


A Bend in the Undergrowth

by Jemsquash



Series: The Remaking of Things [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Emotional Baggage, F/F, F/M, Gentle Sex, No shame november, Politics, Slow Burn, bisexual Obito, cause you know things to fight bloodlines to protect, genderchanges, hide your women Uchiha, in a clan that values love so much they sure fail to show it sometimes, now with art, sealing jutsu, sewing as a weapon, sharingan weirdness abounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 16:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 71,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8497468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemsquash/pseuds/Jemsquash
Summary: Obito may have been at the bottom of the Uchiha pecking order, but her family had loved her regardless.And when she limped into Konoha, 7 months after the Kyubi attack levelled the village and killed her sensei, she was going to need every bit of love and care the Uchiha were capable of.Because clearly the Uchiha clan (and her guilt-ridden teammate)  needed someone with an inability to accept things as they are.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost two years after the Mission of Kannabi Bridge, Obito Uchiha finally escapes from an Iwa Prison and returns to Konoha. Her clan welcomes her back with open arms, though reluctant to tell her everything that has occurred in her absence.  
> And Kakashi sucks at dealing with his emotions, but that's nothing new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with betaing by the amazing YuliaLeafhill and slight editing as I make a few changes, now that I have the plot under more control.
> 
> My tumbler is https://jemsquash.tumblr.com/ Feel free to drop by, stuff for this fic under the original tag name: Uchiha tag.

Heat and light surrounded Obito as she was dragged along the stone floor by the stump of her right leg. Somewhere, in the blind spot of her missing eye, her cellmate was screaming.

“Let me go,” she hissed as the Jinchuuriki pulled her closer with its lava tentacle. “I said,” she gathered chakra she had been hoarding for months, in her hair and teeth and lungs, places the guards never thought to drain.

"LET,” Obito formed a chakra string in both hands, mangled right hand wielding the strings as well as the left.

“ME,” The chakra strings weaved around the glowing Jinchuuriki and went taunt, enabling Obito to pull herself upright and meet its eyes.

“GO!” Every bit of chakra she had left flooded into her right eye, activating her Sharingan for the first time since the rockslide almost two years ago.

The beast just had time to growl at her before it released its grip on her leg, demonic chakra reverting back into its human host.Obito almost lost eye contact with it as she wobbled frantically, trying to stay upright with one foot.

Her cellmate Aimi ran to her side in time to steady her.“Now. Like we planned,” Aimi formed many more chakra strings, of a much better, firmer density. She deftly wrapped them around the now humanoid Jinchuuriki. Aimi maneuvered her grip on Obito, kneeling before her so the Uchiha to climb onto her back.

Obito forced more chakra into her eye.“Now Roshi, you're going to break down every barrier between us and Iwa's walls,” The sound of people shouting came nearer. “Including the shinobi.”

Roshi smiled in a way that was truly his own. “I have no choice, do I?"

“None at all,” Obito smiled back, Sharingan spinning, “Start with our wonderful warden.”

 

 

Obito stood in a muddy stream and looked up at the open sky. Even cloudy and threatening rain, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time. Her reflection, in a floating ball of mostly clean water, was much less enchanting. The face she saw there was covered with scars and cuts, some old and faded, others new and filled with yellow pus and blood. They covered the right side of her face from the top of her forehead, where wispy black hair mixed with the blood, to the bottom of the neck and beyond. Her nose had healed crookedly, and the ragged eye patch around her left eye socket was blood splattered.

“I look like shit,” she laughed, turning Aimi who was holding up the ball of water.

“No,” her fellow POW smiled fondly, splinting cracked lips, “You look like a survivor.” She released the jutsu and let the water fall back into the stream.“Obito...” she brushed away a strand of red hair. “Come with me,” Her eyes pleading. “You’ll be your own master, head of your own clan. You’ll never be called worthless again.”

“I’ll be called a traitor instead,” Obito put her hands over Aimi’s and pressed their foreheads together. “I have a family, teammates, a life to get back to. I miss them.”

“I will miss you.”

“Then come with me. Konoha is beautiful in the spring.”

“Suna is beautiful every night.”

“Aimi!”

“Obito!” The former cellmates embraced and got out of the water, packing up the few supplies they had stolen.“Go well my love, that peg-leg should last you till you reach Fire territory, perhaps even to Konoha if you keep it dry and clean it every night.”

“And my fire jutsu will be a nasty surprise if anyone jumps you before you reach Suna.”

“And turn off your Sharingan, you’re wasting chakra you will need.”

“But I want to remember your face when I say I love you.”

Aimi’s dark face was beautiful when she smiled, before veiling it and walking away towards the Land of Wind.

 

The Jounin stared down at her, while Obito was held in place between two other Konoha patrol squad. “Say that again.”

“Obito Uchiha, rank Chuunin, serial number 3498231.”

“That’s not possible,” another guard muttered out of her line of sight.

“Name your bloodline.”

Obito hissed as her bad shoulder was gripped too tightly. “Obito Uchiha, daughter of Rai Uchiha, the son of Miyota Taichi and Kamo Uchiha; and Honoka Senso, the daughter of Akena Senso and Nori Kamena. And- uhh... I can name my three Uchiha great-grandparents and their parents, and most of the line back to Baru... but that’s about it.”

The Jounin reached up and brushed away the hair hanging over his face, “Obito? Is that really you?” His black eyes bled to red. Her Sharingan reacted instinctively responding to the memory he sent to her and telegraphing her own recollection back to him.

_*They were eleven and eight, standing in a line waiting to demonstrate the great fireball, and Inabi was whispering urgently in her ear, “It’s Tiger Ram Monkey Boar pause Horse Tiger, and you need to start gathering chakra in your mouth on Horse, not at the end or it’s too late. Okay?”_

_“We’ve been practicing for weeks,” Cousin Sakuya said airily from behind them. “You’ve got this,”_

_Obito nodded, watching nine-year-old Mai complete the jutsu and receive a new shirt, Uchiha symbol prominent on the back. “I’ve got this.”_

_Five minutes later, after Inabi breezed through it, Obito panicked, “I haven't got this. I don’t have this, I’ve never had it, I can’t…”_

_Sakuya pushed her forward to the dock, following to stand next to her, ignoring the elders’ frowns at the break in tradition, and whispered, “On the count of three...”_

_Their joint fireball set the grass on fire on the other side of the lake.*_

 

Obito came out of the shared memory abruptly and collapsed, only held up by the two guards still restraining her. “Inabi? I thought you wanted to be a baker when the war was over?”

“It is you!” She was scooped up, out of the hold of her guards, into her distant cousin's arms. “You impossible, brilliant, amazing girl!”

The fourth member of the squad, the squad leader lost all calm.“Uchiha! Control yourself, this is an unknown-”

“This is our Obito, a child of the Uchiha.” Gently Inabi removed the eyepatch from her left side, revealing the empty socket “The Uchiha that gifted Kakashi Hatake with her Sharingan. She’s one of us.”

Obito faded from consciousness, knowing she was safe.

 

 

She awoke to the sound of shouting, still in Inabi’s arms. “She needs medical attention, not interrogation and torture.”

“You’ve broken enough rules for one night Uchiha, I will not let you break another. She needs to be seen by I&T, maybe even the Hokage himself.”

“I want to see Minato-sensei,” she managed to say over their arguing, “I missed his promotion ceremony. Maybe Rin can look me over while they ask me stuff?”

Inabi tightened his grip on her and a quick silent conversation occurred between him and his superior, who slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Fine. Let her find out somewhere other than the Dungeons.”

“Find out what?” Obito twisted her neck the slight bit her shoulder allowed her to but Inabi was already turning and running, jumping to the few trees that remain between them and Konoha's outer wall.

“Tell you later, in safer territory.” Obito gritted her teeth and focused on bracing her shoulder and leg on every impact landing. Inabi landed on the top of the wall finally and runs along the top, going south west.

“I thought we were going to Minato-sensei, isn't he living in the Tower yet?” Obito asked as she caught sight of a large set of apartment buildings. “And where'd the fire temple go, wasn't it right by the main gate?”

“You didn't get a lot of news, wherever you've been for the last year.”

“Iwa POW camp, then an illegal refugee camp when the war ended,” Obito made her voice sound neutral. “A rival to the Tsuchikage kept back prisoners he felt he could use to gain power. I saw him burning alive and screaming during our escape.”

“We wondered why Iwa suddenly stopped sending out scouts,” Inabi sighed. “Those bastards, we never got information or ransom, or anything. We thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Obito let out a sigh, her fears of being deemed unworthy of the cost of a ransom leaving her. 

*

Kakashi Hatake knelt on a muddy road outside the Uchiha compound. It was the fourth guard shift change since he arrived and the first guard to show compassion and speak to him.

“It’s been over a night, Hatake,” the older guard of the two Uchiha said, leaning on his staff a little. “She isn’t coming out.”

Kakashi didn’t respond. The sun rose, he and the road dried into dust and he waited.

When Obito did finally come out, sometime after midday, she was supported by a stocky civilian cousin and a crutch. Two elders followed closely behind, ready to provide more support if needed. Obito stopped right before her kneeling teammate. Kakashi kept his gaze on the ground. “Well? You wanted to see me. So look at me,” Obito demanded.

Kakashi looked up. Obito’s face was less scabbed already, scrubbed clean of everything but healing cream neatly dabbed on every inch of her right side and some of her left. Her nose had been rebroken and set straight. Her hair was cut short of the tangles and dirt, her black robe worn but clean, uchiwa embroidered along the hems. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, as she looked down at him and sneered. There were spaces where teeth had been knocked out from her mouth.

“There, you’ve seen me. Now get lost,” Obito stumbled on her single leg as she turned forcefully, but her cousin caught her arm nonchalantly and helped her get her balance.

The elders came forward. “There is the question of your eye, while Hatake is so conveniently found,” one began. “You would be in your rights to demand it back.”

Kakashi didn’t react. Obito glared at everyone.

“For what?” she asked harshly, squeezing her cousin's hand. “I couldn’t walk here by myself, and you told me my shoulder will never heal right. Why should both my eyes go to waste? Kakashi Hatake is a loyal shinobi who follows the laws of Konoha. Let him and my Sharingan serve Konoha however the hell he chooses.”

“Language Love,” the elder who had remained silent gently cautioned her. Kakashi recognized him as Kamo Uchiha, Obito’s only living grandparent and the senior medical examiner for the police force. He had been the one demanding Kakashi's body on his gurney, when Team 7 had returned home with Obito’s eye and nothing else. But later, after the hearing, Kamo had been the most vocal of the votes to let Kakashi keep it.

“You can not deny, that sounds exactly like our Obito,” he had said mournfully. “Let us honour her last request.”

“You heard her, Hatake. Get lost.” Obito’s attendant spoke for the first time, scooping Obito up and carrying her back through the gates of the compound. Obito protested loudly, even as one of the guards offered her a gentle pat on the head as they went past. The other elder followed with a sniff of dissatisfaction.

Her grandfather lingered. “We broke the news to her four days ago, took her to the monuments to pay her respects while you were safely away.” The admittance of his routine being known so well might have startled Kakashi if he didn’t already have his emotions on lockdown.

“She is not broken, though many in her place would have fallen long before now.” Kamo looked down at Kakashi compassionately. “She’ll never be what she was, never completely heal physically or emotionally. But she is my only grandchild and I’ll see her happy in a civilian role. Your presence in her life will only remind her of all that she has lost.” He reached down a hand, as if to pat Kakashi on the back, but then appeared to rethink touching him. “I'll tell the guards to look away, let you get to your feet with some dignity. Really child, sitting on your knees for twenty hours is not healthy for-”

But Kakashi was gone in a gust of wind and leaves. Kamo continued regardless, as he meandered back into the compound. “-anyone, especially someone still growing. In my day peace meant fewer duties for ANBU, not more. It's like Hiruzen is making up for lost time...”

 

(art work by the amazing purplepuppet, go commission them quick! http://purplepuppet.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now betaed by the amazing Yulialeafhill.

Obito had two days of reunions and joy. Everyone wanted to see her and talk to her, even the relatives that had avoided her before. From her age-mates, who had once alternated between tormenting and playful teasing, to ancient elders who found her Sharingan miraculous. Elder Ranma helpfully brought the huge family tree scroll, ceremonially erasing the death date from her name, marking her grandfather's line alive once more.

“With neither of your parents having the Sharingan and only one grandparent, it is unusual to activate it,” Elder Ranma said thoughtfully running old fingers over Obito's parents, a police officer and a tailor. “But you also have five great-grandparents who were shinobi, three of them with the Sharingan as well. It all adds up.”

“Lucky me,” Obito smiled dreamily. She was on strong painkillers, her knee stump and shoulder not aching for the first time in over a year. Her nose had been re-broken and set straight, ending the constant whistling sound she had when breathing. Complicated negotiations were taking place to get a Hyuuga medic to look her over and see what could be done about her torso, shoulder and fingers.

“We also need to change your name back, like the rest of the girls did once the war was over.” Elder Ranma had to stretch her arm wide to reach the names of other Uchiha who had gone through the Academy during the war.

“Obito is the name everyone knows me by now, it's the name the Hokage and our team use,” Obito smiled, thinking of her birth name, “Mom gave me the name of a pretty civilian girl, not a scarred Uchiha. I’ll stick with Obito.”

“It's your choice,” the elder began the arduous task of rolling up the scroll. “Though we will have to delay any thought of hormone treatment until your injuries heal.”

“No, I'm good with being a girl. I think. But Obito is my name. My real name.”

 

Izanami – her mother's sister – had gently talked to her about what her options were for any sexual trauma she might have suffered, and had held Obito tightly while they sobbed together.

“The medics marked me for breeding, did everything they could to save my uterus and hips.” Obito rubbed her scarless abdomen. “Only reason they let me keep my eye, for selling proof. And I hated, how fucking grateful I was, that I was off limits, that they almost always went for someone else to harass and hurt.”

For two days Obito was coddled and remade, cleaned and cleansed.

She stayed with Izanami and her three youngest cousins, plus a rota of other family that were always nearby, always ready to help or talk or listen.

Obito's questions about her team were talked over, gently delayed and blatantly ignored.

On her third day home they told her where her Team 7 was. When she refused to believe them, they took her to the monuments, the records office, the graveyards. When she still refused to believe that her teammates were killed and the killer, and that her sensei was dead with many others, her grandfather cupped her chin and showed her his own memories of the Kyuubi attack.

"First rule of the Sharingan, love. Your eyes never lie, even when you desperately wish they would.”

 

 

On her fourth day she stayed in bed.

On her fifth day she stayed in bed.

On her sixth day she stayed in bed.

On her seventh day she was gently cajoled out of bed and made ready for a visit to Konoha's Interrogation and Torture department. A small team of shinobi asked Obito questions about her time in Iwa, while her escort of Uchiha sat behind her and objected when I&T pushed her too hard.

After the session threatened to erupt into a fight, an elderly Yamanaka kicked everyone out, and spoke to Obito alone for almost four hours.

"She is exactly who she says she is, with no ulterior motives or planted orders." She said firmly to the council, later. “She had little information to give Iwa and none of any use to them now. She's horribly traumatised, devastated by her teammate’s death and the village's tragedy. But her rage is already fading, coming to reluctant terms with events. She's a resilient one, once she finds something new to focus on she'll recover fast."

"But she'll never return to service?" asked the Hokage cautiously.

"It's unlikely. Her mind is still functional, her chakra strong. But even if she adapts to an artificial leg, the girl was trained as a brawler for the front lines of war. The weakened fingers, limited range of movement in the arm and leg, plus a missing eye," She shook her head. "The child has done her duty, let her have peace."

"Do you truly think any shinobi can have peace?" asked Danzo.

Inoko looked Danzo dead in the eye, recalling the happy child that had helped her weed her garden often, that had brought her favourite food when she was sick with flu three years ago. "This child deserves peace."

 

 

A week after her arrival Kakashi showed up at the compound wall, requested to see Obito and sat down at the main gate to wait. The clan panicked and flailed for a few hours until Obito's eldest cousin proposed the revolutionary idea that Obito be told.

It took Obito half an hour to decide to see Kakashi, two hours to argue her escort numbers down to three and another hour to walk slowly to the gates.

She had planned to do a fair amount of screaming, possibly some threats and violence. Definitely demand answers. But seeing him, kneeling on the dirt, not able to meet her eyes, made her pause. Kakashi looked so resigned to whatever she would do to him, nothing like the cocky know-it-all she had argued with for three years. In a moment of clarity, Obito realised that nothing they said today could lead to anything good. She was still too angry, too raw to fully forgive Kakashi for Rin's death. To even want to know what exactly happened. And Kakashi had clearly already decided to take all blame on his shoulders.

Obito said the bare minimum required, made sure everyone understood her eye was remaining where it was and went back home to bed.

On the ninth day she got out of bed and asked her aunt if there was anything she could help with.

 

 

 

“Alright, now raise your shoulder, higher, higher. I said higher!” Demanded a nurse.

“This is as high as it goes,” Obito gritted out, shoulder half way from her ear.

“That can’t be right, you should have more mobility.” The nurse came over and tried to force the shoulder up. All he managed was an inch or more, with Obito in pain afterwards.

“It’s the bone,” spoke up the observing Hyuuga, her Byakugan activated. “It’s all fused together in places, very unnatural.”

“Can’t you cut them apart?” asked Obito, rubbing at her neck and shoulder.

The Hyuuga frowned, deactivating her doujutsu, and got out a medical anatomy dictionary, turning to the page with shoulder bones. She held up the book next to Obito and looked at the anatomy sketch, then turned on her Byakugan again and looked at Obito. She looked back and forth several times, activating and deactivating her doujutsu.

“Okay knock it off, you’ll give yourself a headache,” Obito dug out her pot of eye cream from a pocket and dabbed a bit of it onto her lower eyelid, before offering it.

The Hyuuga blinked at the gesture, then hesitantly accepted the pot and rubbed some into the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry Uchiha-san.”

“Obito.”

“Obito-san. But your shoulder was so badly injured and so badly healed. I don’t think anything more can be done. Maybe an expert with more years than me can help, but I’m not certain,” She sighed gave back the pot. “It’s the bone that's that main problem and that's the one thing we can’t fix. If we encourage it to grow it could go the wrong way and become worse.”

Obito sighed. “Yeah, I kind of figured,” she continued rubbing her shoulder. “It’s already a lot better, the pain is much more manageable now. But you know,” she shrugged her good shoulder. “We can walk on water and see through stuff, I hoped someone will be able to unfuck my body.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault. Now about my fingers...”

 

 

One of the problems of coming back from the dead was getting your stuff back. Growing up in war time with a full-time occupation from the age of ten, meant Obito hadn't had much in the way for decorations and personal items. Most of her things had been practical or hand made. Consequently, her possessions had been passed on to the rest of the clan after she had been declared KIA. Sheepish relatives had begun to drop off familiar clothes and items in the past two weeks.

One mother had frog marched her daughter right in front of Obito and forcibly pried Obito's mother's necklace from her hands. "I had no idea she took it, honestly." the mother swore, while her daughter looked fit to cry.

“Keep it.” Obito said amused. “I never wore it and Chiaki always loved it.”

Chiaki gave her a grateful smile and ran for the door, necklace in her hands before her mother could catch her.

Ema sighed and looked at Obito with a frown. "She has to pay you back, somehow."

"I'm moving in with Grandfather Kamo soon, we'll need all the help we can get packing and unpacking."

"She'll be there." Ema glanced around the room at the piles of things that had been returned. "I'll dig out my eldest's old clothing, I held on to the good quality things when he died." she glanced away briskly. "You still like bright colours, don't you?"

“Bright orange, red and green,” Obito grinned. “But anything not in yellow or white is fine.”

Ema sighed as she made for the door. "I see the Sharingan does nothing to improve a person's sense of taste."

"My colour sense was always great, orange and red go together fine..." Obito looked at the doorway to see a new visitor, half hiding behind the doorway as Ema left. "Hello. Can I help you?"

The boy moved forward a bit and Obito saw his face clearly. Her breath caught in her throat. "Itachi?"

He gave a little nod, his seven-year-old face half worried, half awed.

"You probably don't remember me," Obito smiled and held out her bandaged hand. "I've been away for a long time, you were so young when I looked after you.

"You're Obito," said Itachi quietly, making no move to come towards her. "You practised hand signs with me and pretended to get them wrong."

"Pretended. Yes, that."

Itachi frowned. "Mother said you died. We shouldn't talk about you anymore."

"Not dead. I was captured by Iwa. Kept in a prison."

"That’s illegal. They're not allowed to do that," a stern look settled on Itachi's face. Obito recognised it as Mikoto's resigned violence-must-be-done look. "What are we going to do to them?"

Obito took a deep breath. From her older family threats and anger towards the Iwa had been heart-warming, a sign that her family cared about her, raged at her suffering. From the child she had babysat, who should barely understand war, it was unsettling.

"The one responsible is dead. The Tsuchikage had no idea what was going on. There's no one left to punish or blame."

"Okay," Itachi seemed content at her response. Abruptly he came forward, raising a hand to her face. "You used to give me sweets in the bath."

"It was the only way to get you in the water," Obito let him trace the scars on her right cheek. "And the sweets are still a secret from your mom."

Itachi leaned against her gently, settling his head on her uninjured shoulder, almost sitting in her lap. "I look after myself now. I don't need a babysitter."

"So I hear," Obito ran her good hand through his hair. "Little genius you are."

Itachi stiffened.

"It's okay, nothing to get worked up about. I'm glad you don't struggle like I did," A foreign memory of a mission in the dark, of blood under her nails and the scent of enemies all around. "Don't be in too much of a rush. There's no war for you to get to. Just... enjoy your childhood," she carried on stroking his hair. "I hear you have a new brother."

"Yes, his name is Sasuke," Itachi pulled away from her, sat on the nearby footstool and told her all about his toddler brother.

 

Jiraiya turned up at the Uchiha restaurant a few months after Obito’s return. It was unusual for a non-Uchiha to eat within the compound, but not forbidden. And he sat at an outside table, in full view of everyone, including several off-duty police workers.

He sat in amiable silence after ordering his meal, until a group of current and former shinobi returned from the acupuncture clinic, injuries less painful for the journey.

“Oi! Brat!”

Obito turned from her conversation with another chronic pain sufferer, to see her teacher's teacher waving at her. Around her, her family started to tense and reach for weapons.

“What is he doing- Are you drinking? It’s not even noon yet!” Obito stalked over, unimpeded by her shoulder or prosthesis leg. Around her people relaxed and her group moved off without her. Obito hadn’t yelled like that since she got back. The Sannin would be tolerated for now.

“It’s just a little one, to wet my throat,” Jiraiya wielded, even as he poured himself another cup.

“I’ll wet your throat with blood old man,” Obito muttered, as she arrived by his side.

He kicked out a chair for her in response. “Have a seat brat. I ordered too much food.”

Obito saw one of her favourite meals being prepared, just within the building. She bit her lip. She hadn’t felt particularly hungry in a few weeks. “Fine. But no more drinking.”

They sat and talked and argued and laughed together, the loud irritating laughter that had driven their teammates mad. Obito ate more than she had in days, her favourite foods turning up as she finished with one dish. For that her family let Jiraiya linger, even as twilight fell and curfew grew close.

Finally, Obito got up to leave. Already her shoulder had started to ache again, and her prostate leg felt clumsy under the eye of a master shinobi. But she smiled, a real small smile, and took the books Jiraiya had brought her, clutching them to her chest as she walked home.

Jiraiya watched her go, then took out his wallet to pay.

“No charge,” said the owner, clearing away the plates.

“Seriously?”

“You made our girl laugh,” He turned away, leaving his back unprotected. A special sign of respect.

Jiraiya shrugged and stood up, stretching out with a yawn. Then he waved cheerily at the hidden squad of Uchiha that had been watching him for the last two hours and ambled out of the compound.

 

The book was an old Uzushiogakure book of seals for children, with Minato and Jiraiya’s scribbles and sketches in the margins. Minato had tried to teach his team sealing techniques, often explaining as he utilized one or another sequence on the field. But he had been so smart, a genius taught by a seasoned master. Obito and Rin not catching on at once confused him, made him over explain, over simplify. Obito’s chip on her shoulder held her back as much as their lack of time to truly focus on seals. With the war there were always more important skills to learn.

But now Obito had nothing but time, as her body slowly healed, was re-broken and healed again. She read the book slowly over the course of weeks, going back over parts until they made some sense to her. When she couldn’t sleep, when her fingers cramped too much to sew; she read the words and focused on them, not the pain.

She talked about what she had read with her grandfather, the bits that niggled at her and almost seemed clear.

“I once had the honour of escorting a monk through the far pine valley, on a particularly cold autumn. He attempted to explain to me his devotion seals, in response to the seals I used to drive away bandits. I recall he favoured brown ink over black-”

As Kamo rambled on, explaining the little he knew, Obito managed to wrap her head around the theories that had always eluded her.

On the second reading of the book she got a notebook and started making her own notes. She only used her Sharingan on the third rereading, memorising the few bits that she hadn't already. On her fifth reading, he felt confident enough to add her own few notes to the book itself, in dark orange ink.

Only then did she copy out the test at the back, fill in the answers to the best of her ability and post it to the address Jiraiya had left her.

Three weeks later Jiraiya sent her the marked test (72% - not bad brat) and another book sealed in a scroll. It took Obito a week to work out how to get it out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now betaed by the amazing YuliaLeafhill.

“Okay,” Obito's cousin Sakuya dropped herself down next to Obito on the couch, unbuckling police gear. “So you have the Sharingan.”

“Yeah?” Obito squirmed away from the gloves and jacket being dropped on the floor. “You do too.”

“Cool right?” Sakuya turned her head so Obito could see her red eyes, three tomoe spinning in each eye. “And now you're going to learn how to use it.”

“I do know how to use it.” Objected Obito, “Turn on Sharingan. See chakra. Copy copy. Stabby stabby. Turn off Sharingan.” She smiled widely.

Sakuya laughed despite herself. “Gods,” She rested her head against Obito's. “I missed you kid.”

“Humph,” Sakuya was four years older than Obito, and spent her childhood loudly and violently defending her three brothers, Obito and any other child in need she happened to spot. She was one of the few of her generation that didn't seem to have changed much, still in the police force, still solid, sensible and now wielding the Sharingan. “Not a kid.”

“Ready for something a bit more complicated than copy copy?”

“Sure, got nothing better to do.”

“That's the spirit.”

 

*

 

“So what do I do now?” Obito finally asked a few weeks after her return. As her body healed, her mind caused her more trouble, bringing up nightmares and emotions she had ignored in order to survive. This was normal everyone told her. It was the wounds of her soul bringing up poison that had to be lanced and cleaned away.

It sucked, was Obito's opinion.

Her body was doing better though. Her right hand now had three mobile fingers, with the possibility of full recovery for the other two, someday. Both her legs would have operations in a few weeks, after which a more personalised prosthetic foot would be made for her. With a lot of physical therapy she would be walking without a cane most days. New teeth and a glass eye were in the works too, while her scarred skin was still subject to every healing cream and oil her clan could get their hands on.

Her shoulder hurt, would always hurt but she had forgotten what life was like without the ache across her back, the unexpected jolts of pain when she moved suddenly. There were pills to make it bearable, treatments to numb it for hours at a time. She had accepted the pain as a part of her, together with the ache of Rin and Minato-sensei.

“What's wrong with what you're doing?” asked Izanami waving her carving-knife at the open sewing box, the pile of mended clothes Obito had worked her way through absentmindedly. Even with a half-working right hand, Obito could sew better than her housewife aunt.

“I can't just sew all day. I have to do something more, something worthwhile.” Obito finished off the Uchiwa symbol on a little sock, the first thing she had ever learned to embroider. Her civilian grandmother had earned their keep stitching red fans on anything that would hold still long enough.

“My children running around in clothes without holes, in trousers the right length and coats that are labelled. That's worthwhile.” Izanami returned to her lunch making. “And because you did that, I could make a meal for all my kids and the officers on night duty tonight.” She checked her stove heat. “That's worthwhile because it means the kids can focus on their studies sooner, and the night workers don't have to use their supper break to hunt for takeaway. Which means they eat healthier, cheaper food and work better. And that's worthwhile because-”

“Okay okay, I get it.” Obito put down her needle and sighed. “It's just… I used to have so much to do, training and studying, missions all the time...now life feels...”

“Organised? Manageable? Sane?”

“Boring.” Obito felt ashamed to admit it, but it was the truth. Sewing was nothing compared to being a shinobi.

“Boring. Really.” Izanami 's voice was amused as if she knew something Obito did not.

“A little bit.”

“Well, we can't have you being bored, can we.” From up amongst her cookery books Izanami pulled out a folder. She dropped it on the counter between them. Obito's flight-or-fight instincts started to act up.

“I was holding back the tide, giving you time to really recover. But if you're bored...” Izanami paged through the file.

“I didn't mean to offend-”

“Osuma is on an unexpected mission till the end of the month, his flat needs to be sorted out, fridge emptied, plants watered ect. You can take his food to Kaoru five doors down and across the courtyard, she's off duty with a broken rib. Make sure she's keeping the wound clean and not moving around too much. She and Osuma will have laundry, take that down to the clan laundry room. While you wait for them to dry, start planning which babysitting timeslots you want to take. I'd say you start with three a week and increase as you go-”

Obito stared at her. Izanami waved at her file. “This is how clans operate darling. While the shinobi work themselves ragged defending the village, we make sure there is a home for them to return to.” Obito still stared. “Close your mouth, you'll catch flies.”

“But this is Genin work!”

“Like I'd trust Genin in Osuma's apartment. Or with any of the under fives. Take some sewing too.”

 

 *

 

It was going out and visiting the clan that made her notice how closely they were living now. Before it had been families with small children that lived in the compound with the head of the family and most of the elders. Youngsters moved out when they left home, and often their parents did too once the children were grown. Living near Uchiha children was loud and hazardous, if you didn't have your own kids you got out of fireball range as soon as you could. But it seemed to Obito that the entire clan was living within the walls of the new compound. Really tall walls too, now that she came to think about it. It was strange. And a bit unnerving.

She took a deep breath, pushed back her memories of prison and caves and adjusted Osuma's laundry on her back. There had been something very wrong about going through a distant relatives dirty laundry. Especially since Osuma had been one of the family to just poke his head in at her bedroom door and say something that amounted to 'glad you're not actually dead, bye'.

Obito had never actually wondered who did her and her grandfather's laundry. Much like the meals in their freezer they just appeared once a week, the same time their bathrooms were cleaned and their floors swept.

She knocked on Kaoru's door. The lightest eyed Uchiha she had ever met opened it with a smile. Kaoru was very tall and neatly dressed, dark hair carefully sculpted into a complicated braid. She grinned widely at her visitor. “Wow, you're up and about already!”

Kaoru ushered her in amiably, took all of Osuma's perishable food and let Obito poke at her wound, for all the good it was worth. “Yeah, the wound is still there.” Obito decided, carefully re-wrapping it in clean bandages.

“Really I thought the stabbing pain every time I breath was just a Genjutsu.”

“Ha.”

“Speaking of Genjutsu...” Kaoru eyed Obito's scars. “Are you ever gonna.” she waved a hand in half-hearted hand sign. “'Cause I'll let you copy one of mine if you want.”

“Are you suggesting my face, which everyone has already seen, needs a genjutsu which half the clan will see through and the other half will try and break?”

“Also maybe do something about your hair. There are ways to make hair grow faster. Maybe it'll be straight this time.”

Obito looked up into Kaoru's earnest face and decided not to take offence. “Once my mental state has been sorted out and I can walk without a cane, I'll talk to you about my appearance.”

“Cool.” Kaoru gestured to her laundry basket. “I'll help you get the stuff to the laundry room and show you the machine we use for bloody stuff."

Kaoru and Obito spent the afternoon in the laundry room, chatting as the machines worked and Obito hand washed the more delicate clothing. Kaoru sat on a bench and slowly went through a basket of weapons, oiling and sanding old tools to a deathly sheen.

“Here,” She passed Obito a set of oversized senbon, “This is more convenient to carry around than that knife in your bra.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Obito said calmly, not reaching for the blade against her top rib.

“Ah uh,” Kaoru put the senbon by the sink next to Obito. “I totally get you wanting to have a weapon, I never sleep without my wires, even at home. But you can do a bit better than some blunt knife.”

“I stole it off a corpse in prison,” said Obito not looking up from the bloody sink. “I spent hours sharpening it on my bunk headboard...” her lips twitched up. “It broke when my cellmate tried to kill herself with it...so it's lucky”

“Right...” Kaoru bit her lip. There was silence for a bit.  
“I… I have this sharpening stone,” said Kaoru hesitantly. “It's really old, I only use it on special stuff. My Genin teammate gave it to me on my last birthday before he died… I could try sharpening your knife with it if you want.”

Obito took a breath. “Promise you'll give it back.”

“Promise on my dad's Sharingan.” Kaoru picked up the small stone from the bottom of her basket and took the knife Obito reluctantly handed over. “This'll take me an hour, tops.”

“Great. Gives me time to adjust your shirts. They don't suit you now.”

Kaoru looked up in alarm. “No. I need them baggy like that.”

“Relax,” Obito pulled out a needle and thread. “You would not believe the advantages the Sharingan makes to tailoring. How small you want your shoulders to look?”

 

 *

 

“Okay, let's see how we're doing...” Mariko activated her Byakugan. “Fingers healing well, wrist almost perfect, elbow getting better. Your new teeth look amazing. Shoulder...” her eyebrows twitched, which Obito had decide meant she was focusing her vision on one direction.

“The bone fragments are still there, no closer to the surface. Collarbone still crooked… in fact, I'm going to sketch this.” Mariko got her medical chart and turned to a blank page. “I might get a civilian doctor to look at this, they might have some ideas..."

It was still impressive to see Mariko write without looking down, carrying on her examination of the rest of Obito while sketching her shoulder. “Your blood flow has improved, as has your chakra. Your eye socket even looks healthier. Still set on a fake eye?”

“My grandfather's making noise about getting a transplant off a fresh corpse. I am disturbed by how easy he makes it sound.” Obito frowned, putting a hand to her left cheek. “But seriously, it's been over two years, everything left in there has to be too damaged to work again.”

“Your optic nerve was cut off very neatly. Pretty deep, but neatly. If you get a tough enough eye that can deal with the amount of blood and chakra you'll pump into it...” Mariko trailed off as a thought occurred to her. “Possibly a touchy question...no chance your clan can give you one of their eyes? That would ideal.” She deactivated her Byakugan as she tilted her head.

Obito laughed. “I'm a cripple that gave away the Sharingan. I'm lucky they haven't been over to your elders asking to seal me- sorry?”

Mariko's face tightened and her whole body language changed to formal and impersonal, like their first meeting.

Obito made to stand. “I'm sorry, I’ve said something to offend you. I didn’t mean to.”

“It's fine, Obito-san.”

“Mariko come on, I'm really really sorry. I just...took my bitterness at my situation out at you. I shouldn't have.” Obito hopped over to her, almost falling without her cane. Mariko stood to catch her arms. “How can I make it up to you?”

“More of that eye cream?” Mariko said reluctantly.

“Done. How much?”

“Lots.” Mariko tried to smile. “My son activated his Byakugan.”

“Mariko! That's amazing, Neji's what four?” Obito let Mariko take most of her weight as they stood holding each other's arms.

“Almost three,” Mariko gave a real smile. “He keeps bumping into things, Hizashi wants to put him on a leash till he gets to grips with shoji walls.”

“That's so cute. When our kids get the Sharingan, they stare at stuff till they run out of chakra and pass out,” Obito laughed. “We should put them together, my clan will keep your kids from walking into doors and your clan will warn ours when they're about to run out of chakra.”

“That sounds nice. Naïve, but nice.” Mariko reactivated her Byakugan. “Oh and your period due to start in five days.”

“Joy,” Obito moved back and sat down again. “My pain meds do nothing for the cramps.”

“Exercise works sometimes. Try the easier taijutsu forms – Crane style, maybe the Koi stances too.”

“I was only taught Dragon and Goat, a bit of Horse and Toad.” Obito admitted ruefully.

“I'm sorry, do you not have the all-seeing copy eye?” Mariko tilted her head. “Go find a relative who does know it and...” she moved one finger around in a circle.

“Oh yeah. I forgot.”

 

 *

 

After an appointment, Obito waited for her escort back to the compound. Seated across from her in the waiting room was an elderly woman she had seen there before. Obito smiled at her and nodded polity. The lady nodded back gravely before focusing on the exercise balls in her hands. Obito guessed arthritis was her reason for her visits to the clinic.

“Sorry I'm late!” Shisui had on his best irritating smile as he skidded to a halt by her seat, “A black cat crossed my path and-”

“I did not sound like that,” Obito argued, letting him help her up and take a hold of her arm. “I always had a legitimate reason to be late.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Shisui put his other arm under her shoulder as they drew near the stairs. “Because I will summon my cats and they will back me up on this. And on the count of one.” They stepped down the stairs together. “One! And on two.”

“Your summons would back up the ghost of Baru the Kinslayer, two, if he offered them enough fish.”

“How dare you insult the integrity of my cats. And three and four, halfway there!”

“Stop. I need a break.” They stopped on the stairs while Obito caught her breath. Stairs were still an issue and Shisui was one of the few who didn't get impatient and just pick her up. “I've met your cats, you had to bribe them with a whole trout each to get them to find you that scroll.”

“I have no recollection of this.”

“You had to borrow money from me to buy all the fish. Did you ever pay me back?” Obito pretended to think about it.

“Yes I did. I absolutely did. Oh hey look at that.” He pointed randomly out the stairwell window, to a rooftop with figures dashing across it. “Actually those are ANBU, don't look at them, face the wall my darling as the shadows fly by.”

“Isn't that the creepy lullaby I sang to you when you were little?” Obito ignored his advice and stared out the window. One of the four figures drew her eye.

“Let's be real here: they were all creepy. I never realised how bad they were till I started singing them to kids myself as a Genin.”

“Yeah, creepy.” Obito frowned as the ANBU she was watching spun around as he jumped from rooftop to chimney. It was too far to really tell, but she could swear he was looking back at her. Abruptly her sight-line blurred, giving her double vision. Then for an instant she could see the skyline of the village as she landed on a window sill. Obito blinked a few times and it was gone. She turned back to Shisui.

“Okay, I'm ready for part two.”

“Part two: the revenge of the rail-guard.” Shisui put his arms around her once more and they went down the stairs together.

 

 *

 

After her leg operation, there was a month of limited movement for Obito, where she was allowed out of bed for a short amount of time, as she healed. Her family were quick to bring her every holey sock in the clan to her bedside, in the name of keeping her occupied. There was only so much darning Obito could handle before she grew bored with it. A week into her bed rest she had reached such competency with the needle that she could sew with a sealing book open on her lap, only needing to look at her needle occasionally.

That was how she managed to darn a seal onto a sock without noticing.

The seal did nothing, being very sloppily done. But it did give Obito an idea. She unpicked the accidental seal and got out one of the other seal books she now owned. Then she got out a thicker thread and needle. Slowly, neatly she started to sew another seal onto the sock.

She had to stop twice and unpick the whole thing again. Then give in and get a notebook to actually sketch out the stitches she'd need to do and work out what order would reduce the amount of thread she'd need. A few more attempts after that and the sock actually fell apart from all the sewing and unpicking.

A week later Kamo was presented with a pair of socks. "How nice, they look just like my favourite pair.”

“They are your favourite pair. I darned the holes in the toes.”

“You really shouldn't have, I use these old things when I garden, they're forever getting wet and muddy.”

“Just let me know how they feel next time you wear them.”

When Kamo reported it was amazing how little mud got onto his shocks and boots and how warm they remained, Obito nodded to herself, got out her seal book and started to research a seal that would block projectiles.

 

*

 

The quilt had come about after Ema had dropped off her son's old clothing. A surprising amount was perfect for Obito, who liked trousers as much as skirts and dresses. Colour and comfort were her main concerns with clothes. The alterations of hems and necklines had taken a bit of time, but eventually she ended up with enough clothing to complete her wardrobe and a pile of scrap fabric from the alterations.

It seemed disrespectful to just throw them out. So Obito had asked around and started making a small quilt out of the pieces. Chiaki was recruited to find out a bit more about her older brother, what he had enjoyed, what his favourite colours had been. A few extra details, wave pattern around the edges, dumplings embroidered on one patch, cranes on another. A last-minute addition was a seal for retaining scent, though Obito hid it in the other embroidery. She wasn't sure how long it would last.

Ema had come close to crying when she received it, told Obito almost angrily that she hadn't needed to do this, it was just some old clothing, and stormed off, quilt clutched to her chest like a baby. Chiaki reported that the quilt had the best spot in the good linen cupboard and her mother looked at it every few hours.

After that there came several off-handed remarks and piles of old clothing, together with half-desperate half-defiant looks. There were many dead in their clan to remember.  
By the time Obito had finished her tenth quilt (a heartbreakingly small one made of baby clothes, training gear and an expensive kimono no one would ever wear again), she had mastered the scent retaining seal, the waterproof seal and the fire-resistant seal. The warming seal still made things steam. The protection seal was still too difficult for her to form with thread.

Not that it was thread that she used, not really. Normal embroidery thread melted when she put chakra into the seals to activate them, the special expensive string that could conduct chakra was too thick and bulky for even the simplest of seals. It had taken her time to learn how to use the chakra string jutsu Aimi had taught her and wrap the chakra around silk thread as she embroidered the seals onto the quilts.

 

 *

 

It was six months after her return. She was ready for her own personal project. The visit to Rin's family was not as bad as she had expected. Rin's mother and sister had her over for tea and they had talked and cried and handed over a bag of clothing and blankets. Obito didn't feel inclined to return or start a relationship with them, but it had been a step closer to closure.

Then she went and stood outside Minato-sensei's old house, willing herself to go up and knock on the door, or ask the neighbours if they knew what happened to all his things. They might still be in there, just behind that door and locking seals she was pretty sure she could get undone. If only she could make herself go up to the door.

"What are you doing here Uchiha?” a shinobi called, walking over to her from across the street. Obito's guard for the day Inabi bristled.

“Who's asking?” he demanded stepping between Obito and the Jounin that had approached them.

“Inabi,” Obito sighed, putting a hand to his back. “He's just asking, relax.” She peered around Inabi, “I'm just here remembering the past. No harm in that right?”

The newcomer’s dark eyes widened, “Don't- don't I know you?”

“No you don't,” Interjected Inabi stepping sideways and blocking Obito from view again. “Let's go little cousin.”

“Will you calm down? Hi Raido, it's me.”

Raido had grown since the last time they had met, over three years ago. He was now well into adulthood and loomed head and shoulders over her and InabiThere was a healed scar on the left of his face, covering his cheek, but nothing compared to Obito's. He stared at her in confusion.

“Obito? Obito Uchiha. We were a few years apart in the Acadamy? Had a few mission's together during the war. Yes?” She wasn't sure he actually remembered her. They had not been close and she had not stood out much as a Genin or Chuunin. Raido continued to just look at her blankly.

“I was just getting up the courage to try and get some of sensei's old things...for a memory quilt you know? But now I realise how stupid that is. Everything of his is probably long gone. Right?”

Raido still stared. Inabi decided he had had enough, gave the interloper a sniff of disdain and picked up Obito (“Hey!”)

“We're due home,” he said shortly before leaping for the rooftops.

“I told you I don't like it when you carry me!”

“Well I don't like it when you talk to strange shinobi. So we're even.”

 

*

 

A few days later a small bundle arrived for Obito. After her paranoid family had examined it at length she was allowed to take the contents: a white jacket, yellow shirt, three gloves, a fabric bag filled with loose notes and pages. All things she recognised as Minato's. Lastly there was a long green scarf with shuriken printed on it.

Obito stared at the scarf for a long time. Surely it wasn't, but it looked just like... Gently she picked it up and ran her hand along the edge. There were still dog hairs on it.

She abandoned the quilt idea with some unease. She didn't have enough fabric for a quilt anyway. Until Mikoto delivered a pile of innocuous clothing via Itachi, without a note or any explanation. A green dress, billowy shirt, arm warmers and thick leggings. The scent of ramen still clung to an oversized shawl Kushina had worn on cold days.

Without meaning to Obito sketched out a rough pattern for the quilt, patches blending together into the subtle shape of a tree branch covered in leaves. She would have to embroider each patch with a scent retaining seal, then one protective seal on the back for the quilt as a whole. It would take forever.

She had it finished in two months. Somehow her own old clothing had to go in too, to balance out the colours. A forlorn blue jacket, orange bands painstakingly sewn onto the hems and collar . Every piece of the green scarf was used, the main fabric for the leaves. When she finished she spent days just looking at it, not daring to take if from her work table. She traced the pieces and seals, noting where she could have done things better, but had no energy to correct it. The quilt was done. She needed to move on.

 

 *

 

  
For reasons Obito was not privy to, she and Kamo had to visit Fugaku and Mikoto at their home. The fact that Obito was still walking with one, sometimes two canes and Kamo took chill easily did not seem to mean much to the head family.

The dinner was relaxed, mostly because Obito and Kamo made an effort to include Itachi in the conversation and allowed Sasuke to have his moments of attention. Sasuke had the habit of looking up to his brother, then his mother before reaching for anything. It was only by the end of the meal that Kamo lured Sasuke to his side for a lively tale of his first mission. Itachi edged closer to Obito as the meal progressed, smiling despite himself at her jokes.  
“You seem much better,” Fugaku said to Obito as Mikoto stood to clear away the dishes, Obito's help refused. “I understand the nurse you see is satisfactory?

“Mariko is very good.” Obito agreed. “Very efficient and organised. Deft touch with the chakra points.”

“She is a Hyuuga dear, they are known for that sort of thing.” Kamo interjected, looking up from showing off the scars on his palm and wrist. Sasuke was cheerfully poking at them.

“You know what I mean. She's got very good control, even when my muscles move involuntary. She's very serious about my physical therapy and always gets more from me than I thought I could manage. I like her.”

“There are more qualified nurses we could get for you. Someone with more time and less duties. I worry about you having to travel to the clinic for appointments.”

“I like getting out, seeing the village.” Assured Obito.

“But it is an inconvenience having to find you escorts each time.” Fugaku frowned and turned his attention to Kamo. Sasuke stopped smiling and edged back to his seat. “I think your third-niece twice-removed took a course on physical therapy, didn't she Kamo?

“I won't trust Teyaki's girl with my back, let alone Obito's.” Kamo frowned, “If finding an escort is such an imposition, I could walk Obito myself. The luxury of retirement and all. There's that lovely bakery on the corner by the clinic, isn't there Obito? I got regular missions delivering for them in my youth. Why I haven't spoken to the old owner's son in years. Maybe we can catch up while O-”

“No.” Fugaku frowned at them both in confusion. “Of course you can't go out too Uncle, then there would be a need for two guards.”

Obito and Kamo looked at each other then looked back at Fugaku with identical looks of polite confusion.  
“You both have the Sharingan,” Itachi pointed out quietly. “You need to be protected when you leave our grounds.

Again, identical looks of incomprehension. “But it's just to the clinic. It's a half hour walk, ten minutes if you have two legs.” argued Obito.

“Really Fugaku, this is quite irregular. We're not talking about leaving the village grounds. Just the compound,” added Kamo.

Fugaku looked at them sternly. “Neither of you seem to understand your positions. You can not defend yourselves from attack-”

“Is this about the Nine-Tails?” interrupted Obito “I thought sensei killed it. Why would we have to fear an attack by it again.”

Fugaku put his hand on the table firmly. “I am talking about someone stealing your remaining eye Obito.”

Silence.

“Itachi, Sasuke go help your mother.” The boys left, Sasuke running and Itachi reluctantly following.

“In the past month, three attempts to kidnap you and extract your eye have been reported to me.” Fugaku let out a deep breath. “There may be more I do not know about.”  
“Iwa?”

“Not Iwa, not yet.” Fugaku looked at her sternly. “When you gave away your Sharingan to Hatake Kakashi, you set off an increase in danger for our family. Eye thief attempts occurred often once Hatake's use of the eye became public knowledge. Fortunately the five Sharingan that were stolen were very public failures and killed their hosts. Thinking you were dead,” Fugaku stopped to take a breath, “Thinking you were dead we put about the rumour that Hatake's case was an anomaly, that your eyes were a fluke, weak and unique in being able to be transplanted.”

Obito let her head rest on the table abruptly. “And now the entire continent thinks my eye is worth stealing.”

“You can never leave the compound without a guard. And we will keep you as close to home as we possibly can.” Fugaku rose from his seat. “I will see both you home safely.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on, there is violence and an overdue conversation. Surprisingly the violence is unrelated to the conversation.
> 
> Betaed by YuliaLeafhill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday gift to myself. Thanks for all the comments, long and short!  
> 

Fugaku and Itachi walked Obito and Kamo to their house in silence. As they reached their small street Obito acknowledged for the first time that their neighbours were all shinobi orientated. The house on the left side of them was a family with three and counting Chuunin siblings and one Jounin parent, while the other side was used by half a dozen young adult Jounin on rotating work shifts. Her aunt’s home was far less secure, though deeper within in the compound grounds. Had it truly been Obito’s decision to move in with her grandfather?  
  
Itachi squeezed her hand and she bent to give him a kiss goodbye. Fugaku stood silently and waited until both Kamo and Obito were inside and the door locked before he walked away.  
  
Kamo and Obito stared at each other in their dark living room. "I'm going to bed,” Obito said tiredly, not moving.  
  
“Well I'm going to get a drink.” Kamo went into his study and came out with an old bottle and two glasses.  
  
“I don't think I'm supposed to mix my painkillers with alcohol.” said Obito wistfully as he gave her both glasses.  
  
“Just smell the fumes,” Kamo said settling into his armchair and opening the bottle. Obito held out both glasses and he poured a small amount into each.  
  
They sat next to each other, Kamo in his ancient armchair he had dug out from the rubble of his former house after the Nine-Tails attack, and Obito in a second-hand sofa she had bribed a cousin to re-upholster in a bright orange flowered fabric. She took a deep sniff of her glass, while Kamo took a single gulp, staring into space.  
  
“It isn’t true,” Kamo finally said, bemused. “Bloodline hunters are always after us. Always. My father had a dozen children, lost more to eye thefts than battle. We’ve always had to guard against them, civilian and shinobi Uchiha. Yours is not the first transplanted Sharingan, just the first willingly given to an outsider.” Kamo waved his glass at Obito, forestalling her objections. “Fugaku is either mad or lying to want you confined. Or,” he took another gulp and looked darkly into their unlit fireplace, “Something else is going on, which can’t be shared with either of us.”  
  
“I just wanted them to be safe,” Obito said softly, not really listening to her grandfather. “I knew I couldn't let my eye fall into enemy hands but I couldn't make myself tell Rin to destroy it. And Kakashi had lost an eye because of me, it felt right to give it to him. It solved everything.”  
  
Silence again. Kamo leaned forward, made a few hand signs and blew out a small fireball that lit the wood waiting in the fireplace. There was the comforting sound of cracking as the fire grew and blazed merrily.  
  
“But that's not the whole truth,” Obito admitted finally. “I couldn’t bear the idea of finally having the Sharingan and not showing it to everyone. I wanted to prove I did it, that I really was an Uchiha.”  
  
“You are an Uchiha,” protested Kamo.  
  
“Barely. Only three great-grandparents born in the clan, less than half my bloodline, only adopted in officially at six. I barely scraped through my whole life. And the one time it seemed like my life was coming together, that it was perfect, it was ruined.” Obito started to cry, fat tears running unevenly down her cheeks. “I just wanted to prove myself, to everyone, that I was worth it, all the grief, all the extra work I caused. And it was all pointless. Rin died, Sensei died, Kakashi is as good as dead to me. And now I find out every bloodline hunter in the world is after me, that I caused more danger for myself and my family. I should have just died under that fucking boulder.”  
  
“No.” Kamo hauled himself out of his chair and grimaced in pain as he knelt down in front of Obito, hand on her scarred cheek. “Now you listen to me, my girl. When your team came back with your eye and no body, I wanted to dissect all three of them in my lab, while they were still breathing. I was mad with rage, with sorrow. But when I finally calmed down to hear their tale, to know what happened, I was so proud. You did the exact right thing and no one faulted you for it. You got your Sharingan away from the enemy and you gave your team the tools they needed to survive. No one could have asked more from you. And as for you dying..." Kamo smiled sadly, wiping away some of her tears. “You are my heir, my one living grandchild, you have my son’s smile and my wife’s laugh. And my ability to talk more than anyone else in this family.”  
  
Obito laughed, still crying.  
  
“I'm glad you’re alive, your aunt is glad you’re alive, the better half of this clan is glad. That shell-shocked teammate of yours, he's been stalking the compound entrance twice a week since you got back, even though I told him not to.”  
  
Obito gave a deep heaving breath, her sobs finally running out.  
  
"We are going to sort this out. Somehow, even if I have to call in every favour I've earned in the past fifty years of service... Kamo noticed something. “Obito your tears...you're crying from both eyes.  
  
“What?” Obito felt under her eyepatch. It was wet with tears. “I thought it was impossible.”  
  
“Not for my granddaughter- the Always Surprising Obito. Right,” Kamo groaned as he got up off his old knees. “I need to plot, I have an idea about how to get you a bit safer and maybe end this grounded and escort nonsense.”  
  
"I'm going to bed," Obito paused and considered the new facts. "Can I borrow your sword?"  
  
“My darling you are safe in this house. But if it will help you sleep, take the axes off the wall.” Kamo waved at his weapon display, all still sharp and serviceable. “Put one down on the side of the bed and the other by your good hand.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obito slept lightly that night, as she had during her time in prison when she had no cellmate to take shifts with. Often the medics of the prison would take her without warning, pry her away from Aimi’s desperate grasp and spend hours running tests on her. When she returned to her cell, more often than not Aimi’s solitude had been taken advantage of, and Obito could do nothing to change anything.  
  
The light sleep made her hallucinate; convincing her she still slept within her own cell, Aimi curled at her back, wedged between her friend and the rock wall. Obito dreamed she heard Aimi softly singing in her ear, tapping her callused fingers against Obito’s unscarred side, longing for her koto. In time Aimi transformed into Rin, and Obito was ten again sleeping safely amongst the treetops. The air was warm, the stars familiar and Minato sensei was on guard, not two feet away. Kakashi had his back to Obito, like always, but their legs tangled together in sleep. Rin snored into her back, adorable and drooling.  
  
“Sleep Obito,” Minato called softly, “We have so much to do tomorrow, sleep while you can.”  
  
The comfort and safety she felt, before opening her eyes and realising it was all a dream, made Obito angry. She sighed and sat up, giving up on sleep.  
  
She had a drawer full of letters to Aimi she had been too afraid to send to Suna, fearful she had never arrived home, was dead somewhere in the desert. Not knowing for sure had been preferable to certainty.  
  
But now, with actual danger present in her life once more, Obito pushed away her fears. She took up a pencil (writing brushes were still beyond her damaged hand) and wrote a letter to Aimi, telling her she was well and safe. Obito copied the letter five times, then prepared them for sending.  
  
Two letters would go via the civilian post service, one via the ninja postmen, one she would send to Jiraiya and beg him to deliver as close as he dared to Suna. And one she would keep and wait till a clan member had a mission to Suna.  
  
It was only when Obito had finished them that she realised how expensive it would be to send all these letters, especially via ninja channels. She did not receive any actual money for her sewing when she was rewarded at all. She could ask, but then she would have to explain who Aimi was. It was not a conversation she wanted to have with anyone. And there was no way she would be allowed out of the compound to post them besides.  
  
She flung the letters into a drawer, feeling helpless once again. She crawled into bed with heavy limbs and eyelids but sleep only came with dawn.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Why aren’t you dressed?” demanded Ema, coming to a stop in the messy kitchen.  
  
“What's the point?” Obito, still in yesterday’s formal dinner clothes, house coat over her good shirt, fried eggs on the stove. "Do you want some; I'm probably not going to eat all of this." The morning had been spent pottering around the house starting a task then wandering off to start another. There were already three other breakfast dishes going cold on the table.  
  
“Alright then,” Ema strode forward and turned the stove off.  
  
"Hey! I wasn't finished.” Obito objected waving the spatula and getting oil on the floor.  
  
Ema turned her sternest look on her, “You are going to go and have a wash, then put on clean clothes. I am going clean up this kitchen and pack breakfast. Then we are going to your appointment.”  
  
“Oh. I'm not going anymore; some relative is coming to me. It’s easier that way. Better.” Obito made to turn the stove back on but Ema smacked her hand away.  
  
“Oh no she’s not, other arrangements have been made. Complicated political arrangements you will discuss on the way to the Hyuuga household.  
  
“Hyuuga household?” Obito blinked.  
  
“Yes, so decent clothing Obito, something not in an eye searing shade of orange.”  
  
“We’re going to see Mariko?” she whispered. “Outside of the compound?”  
  
“Yes child, are you deaf as well as half blind?”  
  
“Auntie!” Obito hugged a startled Ema, kissed her cheek and hobbled out of the kitchen as fast as she could, dropping her coat onto the floor as she went. The spatula was still in her hand as she went down the hallway. “So light orange clothing is good right?” she shouted back.  
  
Ema, still recovering from the unexpected surge of emotion, gave herself a shake, "What’s wrong with decent blue and black, I ask you?” she muttered turning to the task of cleaning the kitchen.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kofun just managed to keep up with Obito’s skipping as they left the Uchiha compound. “I liked it better when you could barely walk.” He grumbled, re-adjusting his archery bow.  
  
Obito kicked him with her prosthetic foot but slowed into a more natural walk. “So I'll just go there every other day?”  
  
“Hyuuga live closer than the clinic, be faster for everyone.” Ema's oldest living son nodded to himself, checking his belt for his police badge. “And the South station is even closer; anyone on patrol in this area can easily guard you to and from your appointments. You might have to spend some time at the station waiting to go home again. But we can find something for you to do.”  
  
“And Grandfather really organised this in one morning?” Obito tried to control her smile.  
  
“Kamo’s done a lot for the police force, and he’s worked with the Hyuuga on and off for years. He called in a bunch of favours and boom,” Kofun bit into the egg dumpling Ema had hurriedly made before they left the house.  
  
“I love my clan,” Obito said dreamingly.  
  
Kofun choked and almost spat out his mouthful. “That’s the first time I’ve heard that. You mix your meds or something?”  
  
“Why wouldn’t I love my family. They always come through for me. When I needed extra training as a kid…”  
  
“I remember you clinging to my leg and begging for an hour straight,” Kofun interjected.  
  
Obito continued as if uninterrupted, “When I needed encouragement and support.”  
  
“I shook you off and threw you in the lake. You almost drowned. Sakuya broke my arm in three places.”  
  
“That’s how I learnt to swim,” Obito said happily.  
  
“…" Kofun put a brotherly hand on her shoulder. “Glad to have you back kid.”  
  
“Glad to be back!”  
  
“Now tone it down before you scare the Hyuuga.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obito was let into the Hyuuga household via the back entrance – Kofun scowling at the imagined slight. He gave the door answering Hyuuga a warning look, made Obito swear once more she would not leave the Hyuuga’s protective hospitality until her escort arrived in two hours, then left in a huff, coat billowing behind him as he stalked off.  
  
“My family have a taste for the dramatics,” Obito told the blank faced Hyuuga, hanging her coat and replacing her shoes with the ones on offer. They gave no sign that she had spoken and led her without comment to a small inner courtyard where Mariko waited with tea.  
  
Obito greeted her with a hug. Mariko allowed it good naturedly. “This is an unexpected treat, to work from home.” She gently pushed Obito away. “Now let’s see what horrors you’ve done to your legs this time.  
  
Obito drank tea and offered Ema’s cooking while Mariko examined her body and chakra. Then her physical therapy started in earnest.  
  
When Obito attempted a few new exercises Mariko’s son, Neji was called in to be formally introduced, then made to cling to Obito’s bad knee and force chakra to flow. Mariko watched and corrected Obito as she attempted the simple movements.  
  
Neji snickered at her difficulty, so similar to Obito’s cousins when they all had been younger. Only the white eyes and thinner lighter features differing him from her memories.  
  
While Mariko walked away to get her notes and check something, Obito casually formed the shorthand hand signs of the lesser fireball jutsu behind her back. She blew out a ring of smoke that landed softly on Neji’s head, giving him a temporary crown. Neji gave her a hint of a smile, so she blew out two more rings, one going inside the other then slowing and expanding to let the other go into it. With the last of the jutsu’s power Obito blew a tiny fireball that burned up harmlessly when it landed on Neji’s nose, making him sneeze and activate his Byakugan.  
  
“Please don’t set my son on fire.” Said Mariko, walking back.  
  
Neji giggled once, then went back to running his chakra through Obito’s knee stump.  
  
“Sorry, this session was such short notice,” Obito said as Mariko led her to the door. The same Hyuuga from before was giving her waiting police escort a scan over with their Byakugan.  
  
Mariko made an impatient gesture, “Next time come earlier, before my clinic hours.”  
  
“See you in two days,” Obito bowed to them both, once her shoes were back on, and walked out to accept Kaoru‘s friendly armlink.  
  
“Obito?” Mariko called, “I am glad not to lose you. As a client,” Mariko quickly added when all three Uchiha looked at her in surprise. “Now do your exercise properly this time.” She snapped and shut the door in their faces.  
  
“Those Hyuuga,” remarked Sakuya winding her arm through Obito’s free arm, “So dramatic.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obito met her grandfather in the medical examination room of the South police station, rearranging scalpels in his preferred order. She said nothing, just hugged him tightly.  
  
“There now,” said Kamo patting her back. “Nothing to it, just a bit of talking required to sort everything out. Problem with our family you know, all looks, no actual words used to communicate.”  
  
Obito sniffed, hugged him tighter still then let go. “Those scalpels need sharpening.”  
  
“It’s a disgrace, isn’t it?”  
  
Together Kamo and Obito rearranged the exam room to Kamo’s preference, then checked the few bodies on hold in the freezer.  Kamo frowned at the autopsy work. Obito eyed the bulky stitches in distaste.  
  
Obito had declared her intention to be a shinobi at the tender age of four. Her grandfather had then made her spend several hours watching him examine dead bodies in the main police station. He wanted his civilian raised granddaughter to know exactly what she was in for, before she joined the academy. Obito’s guardian, her mother’s mother, reluctantly accompanied her, only to get over her distaste in order to criticise Kamo’s suturing technique. Obito had been taught some of the stitch types on a murdered sewage worker, Akena Senso wrinkling her nose in disgust as she sewed up his neck wound, Kamo’s Sharingan copying her technique.  
  
In her last years, Akena had been called in to ‘neaten up’ quite a few bodies before their relatives came to collect them. It wasn’t how the master tailor had envisioned spending her retirement, but there had been a war on and the Uchiha clan had been supporting both her and Obito.  
  
“Right,” Kamo put on a pair of rubber gloves. “Let’s show these amateurs how it’s supposed to be done, shall we?”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obito's life took on a pleasing routine with the addition of her dawn visits to the Hyuuga household then the southern police station till lunchtime. Her life was full enough that she could almost ignore the constant danger that hung over her head. On the days she had her appointments her grandfather tried to be at the southern station too, but often he was wanted at one of the other stations, especially the central station connected to the shinobi services. At those times Obito was not allowed in the morgue but kept herself busy doing little tasks for the station and meeting new people that entered. Thus far no word had been heard from Fugaku regarding her new schedule, but as Kamo said: if he had objections he would not keep them to himself.  
  
The days she had no appointment were more lonely. The new work took a toll on her grandfather, though Kamo denied it strenuously. He slept in late the mornings he did not work, leaving Obito to tend to her seal studies and the endless mending that found its way into her work basket, no matter how she hid it.  
  
Not allowed to wander far from her home, never outside of the compound without a good excuse and two escorts, she stuck to helping with the more boring chores of the clan. She was average at cooking, relaxed when it came to housework and while popular with the youngsters of the clan, their elders felt she let them have too much fun and not enough training. More and more, Obito was asked to turn her hand to sewing.  
  
"Who did the sewing before I turned up," she demanded around a mouth full of pins as she tried to resize a shirt sleeve.  
  
"Anyone with time and skill with a needle," said Inabi calmly, wearing the shirt she was attempting to sort out. "No one is as good as you," he watched as Obito threaded a needle with thread so thin he could barely see it, "Not many with the Sharingan have the time."  
  
"Lucky me," Obito muttered deftly pinning the other sleeve to match the other with one hand, other hand poised to sew in a dirt prevention seal. She had yet to tell anyone of her seal learning, though she did little to really hide her attempts. She supposed no one ever linked sealing to thread, or Obito Uchiha to anything so mentally taxing. She was now working with a thin nylon thread, making seals so small she could hide them under buttons.  
  
"Hey, Obito..." Inabi called for her attention as she tied off the thread, pins in her mouth finished. "Are you going to the ceremony with anyone?"  
  
“I thought the whole damn clan was going." she said carefully raising up the shirt, mindful of the pins.  
  
"We are, but I thought you could walk with me, stand in the shinobi section." Inabi slid out of the shirt slowly, avoiding the pins. He shook out his undershirt, checking no mothballs or dust had come off while he was fitted.  
  
Obito looked up at him after carefully putting the shirt over a chair. "I don't think I'm allowed to."  
  
“I made a few enquiries. It should be okay, you a veteran of the war and all.” Inabi put on his Chuunin jacket. “You’ll be with me and a dozen other nin’s armed to the hilt, only away from the clan for two hours or so. We might even be able to sneak in a drink.” He smiled at Obito expectantly.  
  
“A drink at an actual bar, not behind the clan dojo with someone on the lookout for elders?” Obito smiled despite herself. "If this is a real offer, and you can promise me I’ll be allowed… then sure I’d love to go with you.”  
  
“I will make it happen,” Inabi tugged a loose lock of Obito’s hair affectionately then ambled out of the clan’s storage room.  
  
Obito watched him go, the inklings of a new worry in her mind, under the joy of a few hours freedom. She had been sure that Inabi was too closely related to her to consider her a romantic option. He was related to her via maternal grandfather, wasn’t he?  
  
Obito shrugged and made a mental note to check the family scroll when next she visited Elder Ranma. Then her mind turned to thoughts of what top she could wear to the ceremony.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The first obvious kidnap attempt happened on Obito's way home after a busy morning keeping the waiting room of the police station calm. Her filing and record keeping was not the best but her ability to keep agitated people preoccupied till all their statements could be taken was top notch.  
  
She and Shisui walked to the compound slowly, giddy over the news that her eye socket was healed enough to hold a real eye, not a glass one. "Do you think I could get a pretty hazel one?" asked Obito half seriously.  
  
"I will scour the bingo book and bring you the prettiest eyes a missing-nin has," Shisui promised, not at all serious.  
  
"You're so sweet to your old aunt." Obito patted his tanto harness, then pulled at a loose thread. "Let me re-stitch this when we get home okay? It needs to be resized."  
  
"You're not old or my aunt,” Shisui turned his head at the sound of a loud landing on the roof of the building next to them. In an instant, Obito's relaxed clansman was gone and a focused shinobi remained. He was between Obito and the building, hand on his tanto before Obito could truly register what he had heard.  
  
Sorry!" called a voice from above, "Wet landing."  
  
Obito smiled and relaxed, squeezing past Shisui to continue their walk home. That's when a hand grabbed her, as smoke billowed out from above.  
  
A lifetime of training and conditioning took over her body. Her mind focused on one single thought: I'm not going back. The eye they were so keen to steal activated.  
  
By the time Shisui had dealt with the other two, Obito's attacker had bled out and she was calmly putting her knife back into the hidden pouch of her shirt.  
  
"What colour are their eyes," asked Shisui, keeping his sword out.  
  
"Horrid blue colour," Obito wiped blood from her split lip. "Not worth it at all."  
  
  
  
  
Sometime later, after a pre-interrogation by the first police on the scene, official interrogation by the Konoha I&T and an odd post-interrogation at the main hospital by some blank faced doctor, Obito looked up at her four serious looking guards and sighed. She was never going anyway by herself ever again.  
  
She leaned against the wall, waiting to be officially released, and closed her eye. Goodbye party, hello house confinement. A few nursed wondered past, focused on their clipboards.  
  
"…Chakra exhaustion…"  
  
"Again? Doesn't the body adjust to the stress after a while and recalibrate amounts?”  
  
“It’s different with a transplant, especially clan specific organs in a non-related body. There are no fail-safes, no ways to readjust the usage without surgery, which Hatake won’t allow!”  
  
Obito did not reopen her eye, but did focus her ears and chakra senses on the nearby nurses, trying to hear their concentration as they walked away.  
  
“Not even to try and turn the damn eye off?”  
  
“I’ve tried to convince him the last four times he’s been brought in, but he’s too high level for me to intimidate and too stubborn to listen to reason.”  
  
“Maybe it’s physiological? Penance or self-punishment? The family does have a history of depression-“  
  
“Please. These shinobi are all the same-“ The nurses left Obito’s hearing range. Without opening her eye she sent her chakra senses behind her, towards the hospitals sick rooms and overnight observation wards.  
  
She had her mind made up before she found Kakashi, chakra low but with an eye still glowing to her senses. She opened her eye and demanded to go to the bathroom.  
  
“Can’t you hold it, we’re about to be dismissed?” asked her oldest guard  
  
“This isn’t the type of thing I can hold off,” said Obito absently, “And I need money, to get something.”  
  
“What do you want to buy in a bathroom-“ the youngest of her guards was elbowed by his brother. Obito’s all male guard squad looked extremely uncomfortable as she headed for the nearby bathroom. So uncomfortable they missed her turning the next corner instead and heading to Kakashi’s room.  
  
  
  
  
  
Kakashi was doing sit-ups when she arrived at his doorway, because relaxing was against the rules or some other nonsense. Obito entered quickly came to a stop next to his bed and opened her mouth, only to realise she had nothing planned.  
  
Kakashi almost seemed to flinch back from her- which was ridiculous. He shuffled himself up, abandoning his exercises to sit up against his meagre pillow pile and wait.  
  
“So…my loving family neglected to mention my eye is kinda killing you..”  
  
“It's not...” Kakashi’s voice was dry. There was a jug of water and a glass on his bedside table, Obito could easily pour him a glass. Her arms remained at her side awkwardly. Rin would have poured for him, held the glass up for Kakashi to drink from. Sensei would have brought him weird herbal drinks, guaranteed to speed up recovery. All Obito could do was fight down her scowl as Kakashi reached over and got his own water.  
  
“The chakra drain is excessive,” he admitted softly, after a sip, “But the advantages outweigh the cost.” He didn’t look at her with his one uncovered eye.  
  
“So you can control it otherwise- focusing and copying what you want it to?”  
  
“Copying is easy enough and the clarity and distance it sees is impressive,” Kakashi still did not look at her, staring down at his glass, which he replaced on the table. “The eye-“  
  
“My eye.” Obito interrupted, then felt ashamed. She sounded like a bitch, even to herself.  
  
Kakashi drew his shoulders in as if he were afraid of her, not just too arrogant to look at her directly. But that was crazy.  
  
“Your eye... it sees genjutsu easily, but not automatically- it takes time to see through one. But genjutsu was never my strongest point so...” he reached up as if to touch his bandaged eye, then stopped and brought his hand back down to rest in his lap.  
  
Both his hands were held in sight, Obito noticed, held flat and stiff at the top of his legs – like she had been made to do when she was being examined in prison.  
  
There was the sickening realisation that Kakashi Hatake – the pride of Konoha, genius among geniuses- was afraid of her. Her body gave an involuntary shake at the shock of it.  
  
Kakashi finally turned his head to look at her, arm rising towards her. Obito deliberately rolled back her bad shoulder, focused on the pain to clear her mind and gave him her best reassuring smile.  
  
He froze looking confused, under his ever present mask.  
  
“Ka-Kakashi,” she stumbled on his name, unused to saying it properly. “I’m not going to hurt you.” It came out softer than she meant it.  
  
“I know you won’t.” Kakashi lied.  
  
Obito’s empty eye socket flickered under its eyepatch. She fought the urge to smack him on the head. She swallowed and filled the awkward silence as best she could.  
  
“…with me, I also find genjutsu a trouble spot, I can’t make my own from scratch but I can copy and use someone else's.” She gestured to her face and the genjutsu she never used appeared covering her scars and eyepatch making her look like any other Uchiha. “The Sharingan is unique to each person, strengthening the area’s its owner was already good at. I’m good at copying and sharing things with my Sharingan, my cousin thinks I could develop a kind of technique to take my worst memories of war and throw them at someone, as a kind of stalling genjutsu.”  
  
“Your grandfather told me you were a civilian.”  
  
“Yes?” Obito frowned. “What of it?”  
  
“Why would you need to learn such things? You won’t need to fight.”  
  
Obito deactivated her face genjutsu, also ending the small one Shisui had put on her split lip and bruised chin. “I’m an Uchiha, Kakashi – we always need to fight.” She smiled a real proud smile at his confused look.  
  
“Take care of my eye. And yourself.” She turned to leave. “I gave you that eye to help you, not to weigh you down.”  
  
She left quickly and returned to her guards – assuring them that that was how long it took her to put a tampon in, ask anyone. They declined to ask further and left for the compound, Obito covered on all sides.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's every teenager's nightmare, housebound and forced to deal with relatives wanting to discuss your future.  
> Obito deals with it by setting things on fire, discussing philosophy and getting a new eye. (warning: new eye may result in bringing up all your worst memories and those of anyone else using your old one...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you so much for all the comments and support. I love them all.
> 
> Please feel free to tell me anything, from what you don't like to what you wish would happen. I have no beta so point out any mistakes you spot. Give me your OCs and headcanon's you think I could use. Come play in my sandbox with me!

 

 

After the attack Obito was permanently confined to the Uchiha compound. Her would-be kidnappers had no obvious affiliation, though two were Kumo born and raised, newly made missing-nin.

(“Fucking Kumo,” cursed Mariko, on her only house visit. “It's always them in the end. Never got over my clan picking Konoha over them”.

“Wow,” Obito managed to gasp as Mariko aggressively poked at her spine, “I didn't know you Hyuuga knew how to swear.”

“Only for Kumo, special clan rule.”)

Obito's one trip out was to the main Torture & Interrogation office, where Inoichi interviewed her, obligatory pack of Uchiha in the back of the room seething at the indignity of further questioning.

"An alive nin would have been useful," Inoichi's apprentice Ibiki noted at a pause in the questioning.

"Sorry. I panicked,” explained Obito, “The white haze came over me and I just-”

"Excuse me, the white what?” asked Inoichi paging through his notes, “I have no information about mist, just normal smoke bombs.”

“You know, when everything fades away and all you want to do is kill everything?" Obito smiled awkwardly.

Ibiki and Inoichi exchanged a look, "No, can't say I've felt that before.” said Inoichi slowly."Really? My teacher was the one who gave it a name. He got it too.”

"Really? My teacher was the one who gave it a name. He got it too.”

“Minato Namikaze?” Inoichi's eyebrow started to twitch.

"Oh yeah. He always told me if I had to seriously fight for my life, make every move a killing move."

“Okay...” Inoichi made more notes. Ibiki attempted to glare Obito into submission. Obito twitched her cheek, which made her scars bulge alarmingly. She stopped when Inoichi looked up at her again.“Uchiha-”

“Uchiha-”

“Obito.”

“...Obito, I know it's a lot to ask, but if there is a next attempt to steal your eye, please try to leave someone alive.”

Obito crossed her arms, “No promises,”

“Having someone to interrogate might make it easier for us to stop the attacks altogether.”

“I understand that, I really do. But still, I won't go easy on a bloodline thief. They prey on the weak and vulnerable.”

“Maybe just stab them in non-fatal places? They’ll still be very sorry when we get our hands on them.” Inoichi smiled.“Fine.” Obito sat up straight and looked at Inochi with suspicion, “How's your aunt doing these days?”

“Fine.” Obito sat up straight and looked at Inochi with suspicion, “How's your aunt doing these days?”“My... aunt?”

“My... aunt?”

“Yes, Inoko – she was having trouble with her heart last time I saw her, you keeping an eye on that?"

“Tha...I don't… she was fine last time I saw her.” Inoichi was confused at the sudden change of topic. Few ever prolonged their visits to his office with social chitchat. The horde of Uchiha in the back just looked bored. Obito's concern for all people old and vulnerable was an old fact of life to them.

“But when was that? Between this job and your toddler and your duties as clan head, do you ever have a chance to really catch up with her?”

“...yes I do. Thank you for your cooperation. We may have further questions at a later date.” Inoichi abruptly ended the interview.

“Well, you know where to find me.” Obito sighed as her family got up and started to swarm around her, “I'm never too busy for a fun visit to the torture chambers.”

  


By the end of week one of her confinement, Obito had done enough mending to guilt her family into giving her money for her work. There was enough for her to send all her letters to Aimi.

She also mastered the sealing array allowing her to seal things into scrolls. She could now send her actual sewn seal work to Jiraiya, instead of trying to describe or sketch it. She also put a bunch of local food into the scroll as a bribe to deliver her letter to Suna. 

By the end of week two, she had read every seal book she could get her hands on, though not well enough to understand half of them. She had copied five different fighting styles and mastered none of them. And she had done so much mending and sewing her basket was empty. She had started going around asking for more work before her aunt stopped her by setting up a round of babysitting.

And by week three Obito had resorted to desperate measures to keep herself occupied.

"Okay, on the count of three. One- Three!"

Half a dozen Uchiha, all under the age of ten threw little bundles of rags at Obito, who burned them up with mini fireballs.

Itachi, who had turned up uninvited with two buckets of sand and a burn kit, watched nervously from the sidelines. A small pile of leaves caught alight and he quickly stomped it out.

Obito didn't even notice. "Now this time you guys should throw in different directions, make it harder for me to hit them all.” 

The ensuing chaos resulted in five burns on three children, four fires and Obito officially removed from the babysitting roster forever. 

"I'm bored," Obito moaned, throwing down the test papers, "So bored, bored bored boooored." She leant over to sprawl on her side. "I'm sick of studying, let's go out and do stuff."

Itachi, who Obito had been testing for his class exams, frowned, "We still have go through history." 

"But you know it all! At least..." Obito crinkled her nose in disgust, "The version of history the academy want you to know."

"This is the truth Auntie, it's about the last war, they can't lie about events we can still remember."

“Oh my sweet darling, they lied about the war as it was happening," Obito scratched her itching scars irritably. "Told us we were winning when even I could tell we were losing, told us battles we had fought in didn't happen. Blamed one man for the faults of an entire regiment. History changes all the time."

“No!” Itachi stood up, hands in fists. "You're wrong. The village doesn’t lie to us, not it's people. We tell civilians lies, to keep them from worrying."

"Honey the civilians usually know more than your average Jounin about the outside world. They don't have as many rules about what they can and can't talk about," Obito looked over to Itachi and was surprised to see him sniffing, fighting back angry tears. "Hey, hey hey, sweetie." she sat up and shuffled towards him, "What's wrong, what did I do?"

“Nothing, it's nothing" Itachi said letting her envelope him in a hug. Slowly he sank down and curled up in her lap, breathing slowing down to normal.

"What is the truth then?” He said softly into her shoulder. His seriousness made Obito rethink a light-hearted response. The little clan heir was so solemn all the time, as if the weight of the world lay on his thin shoulders.

“Everyone has their own version of the truth. Two people can see the same event and come away with completely different views of the truth. One man can be a hero to one person and a monster to another. It's all in your point of view.” She tapped the history scroll. “This is the truth the village wants, that will keep us united against our enemies. It might not be fair to each person but it is best to everyone as a whole… is this making any sense?”

Itachi nodded. “So this is the best truth. What the village teaches.”

Abruptly Obito remembered one of her last conversations with her teacher, _He was vilified by everyone around him. Made to take his own life._ She forced herself to smile naturally at the worried little boy. “The village is made up of many people and sometimes people make mistakes.” _Obito, please try to understand._ “But it is only together that we can do our best.” She stopped unable to explain herself any better.

“You two look very serious.” Mikoto smiled as she walked in, Sasuke on her hip.

Itachi smiled at them, abruptly becoming a normal seven year old. He stood up, out of Obito's embrace and reached up for his brother. Sasuke went willingly into his arms.

“Any fires while I was gone?”

Obito didn't respond to the tease. She gathered up Itachi's things while the boys played a tickle game.

“Obito?”

Obito looked up, just in time to see Mikoto's sword coming for her kneeling leg. She dodged, Itachi's abandoned kunai in her hands, and turned quickly to run at Mikoto, her Sharingan activating. She wasn't really aware of what happened after that, her rusty reflexes keeping her on the attack avoiding Mikoto's teasing strikes.

If Mikoto had wanted to stop Obito, she could have easily done so. Even two children and years of retirement had not slowed Mikoto down enough for Obito to face her as an equal. There was no sense of danger coming from Mikoto; Itachi and Sasuke watched placidly from a corner, Sasuke cheering his mother, Itachi watching each move closely. Obito dodged and attacked but did not try to escape or call for help.  
  
“Enough,” Mikoto said after a few minutes, holding up her sword. “You'll hurt yourself badly if we continue.

Obito stopped her charge and sat down to pant, sweat all about her face. “What- was- that about?”

Mikoto rehung her sword on the wall and started to pick up the few things knocked over by their fight. “Needed to see how you fight when cornered. Shisui said you were still good but I didn't quite believe it.”

Obito just panted, her back starting to throb from the unexpected movement.

“You are still better than a civilian, better than most Genin. Fast reflexes, good instincts, a surprising lack of mercy.”

“I like to end a fight fast,” Obito said shortly. Her hand was shaking.

“I'm going to put your name down for some tests. You might be able to prove you don't need an escort everywhere. Certainly you might get out of the compound occasionally,” Mikoto smacked Sasuke's fingers away from a kunai blade, then showed him how to pick it up by it's handle.

“Really?”

“Just stay out of trouble till then. And do more exercise, you shouldn't be that out of breath.” Mikoto left the room, her sons following. Itachi stopped to give her a conflicted look, but Obito didn't notice.

  


"Sit." ordered Elder Ranma, pointing to a chair. Obito sighed and slumped into it. This was all too familiar to her. During her younger years she had always ended up the one in trouble in a study. Sometimes because it was actually her fault and other times because she was distracted and didn't run when everyone else did.

"How old are you again," asked Ranma as she looked along a wall of shelving, searching for a scroll.

"Fifteen." Obito muttered.

"Wrong." Ranma triumphantly waved her found scroll. "You are nearing seventeen."

"I've decided not to count my time in Iwa. I don't feel like I'm sixteen.”

“And you act like you're seven. But time is time, no changing the facts. Now: what are your plans for the future?”

“Getting out of this compound?”

A sigh. “I meant your future. what do you want to do with your life?”

"Ummm..."

From the age of four to eight Obito had wanted to be a super cool ninja, from eight to her thirteenth birthday she had wanted to be the Hokage, Rin to love her and Kakashi to acknowledge her. And after her capture she had just wanted to go home and set everyone responsible for her suffering on fire.

“Ummm...” she said again.

“I'm waiting.”

“I wanted to be the Hokage.” she said very softly.

“That was never going to happen. You have to know that by now”

“It could have! I was in the line of Hokage succession! If Minato-sensei had lived-”

“But he didn't," Ranma interrupted coolly. "The line of Namikaze, of Jiraiya is dead. Orochimaru will be the next Hokage, we have to accept that and plan accordingly.”

Obito bit her lip, about to explode with anger. “What about Kakashi, he still counts.”

“Please,” Ranma waved a hand, “Life expectancy for ANBU is six months, shorter with Sarutobi shoving peace talks and silent threats down everyone’s throats."

Obito deflated in confusion, “Wait, what?”

“Oh yes, that reminds me.” Ranma pulled out an official looking document. “We want your eye back when the worst does happen. Sign here and here please.”

Obito took the page automatically, mind blanking out for a bit. Kakashi was ANBU, Kakashi was black ops. If Obito was nearing seventeen, Kakashi was not yet sixteen. His birthday is soon, she thought irrationally.

“Just sign the paper Obito,” Ranma's patience was fast running out.

Reluctantly Obito signed her name to a paper declaring herself the receiver of all Kakashi Hatake's possessions in the event of his death, including his corpse. The document already held Kakashi's signature.  
  
She tried to picture Kakashi lying dead. Another cadaver in the police station morgue. She couldn't.

“...what are we going to do with you?” Obito gradually began to listen to her elder once more. “What skills do you still have, what can you see yourself doing with your life.”

Obito looked at her blankly. She thought about mentioning her seal learning, her slow mastering of her Sharingan. That the rest of her clan had trouble communicating but she thrived on other people's attention, making her invaluable at the station or in social groups. The fact that she had team-mate out in a dangerous job with an eye that was hurting him badly. She had so much she needed to do.

“You could trust me to make my own way?” she tried hesitantly.

Ranma snorted. “Try again.”

“Can...can I have sometime to think about it?”

“More promising, yes we can speak again after the war ceremony.”

“Can I still go with to the bar after, with Inabi?”

“You're going with Inabi?” Faster than her age should have allowed Ranma snatched up another set of scrolls and had them open on a nearby table. “Yes, yes. Excellent combination, no conflicting bloodlines. Couldn't be better if it was officially arranged.”

“We're cousins Elder, we have the same grandmother?”

“What?” Ranma looked over the scrolls again, this time more slowly. Obito squirmed.

“No. It's your great-grandmother, and she was adopted and raised by your line, but your grandmother wasn't her natural born child.” She beamed at Obito. “Your side of the family has always been good at raising big families of war children.”

War children made Obito think of Kakashi in an ANBU uniform, still thirteen and small for his age. She swallowed her nausea and ended the conversation as fast as she could.

  


Obito's eye transplant finally happened more than a year after her return. It was an average eye, from a dying civilian with debts to clear, but his dark eye was in perfect condition.

“It'll be a bit odd at first, it's nowhere are good as one of our eyes, even without the Sharingan. But it will give you back full vision," Izanami noted as she helped Obito tidy and disinfect her grandfather's study for the surgery. "It will help you blend in a bit more without the eye-patch. With a bit of makeup and a lot of grovelling you might see the outside of the compound with only one guard.”

“Wow. Whoppee,” Obito said dully, putting away boxes. It had been over a month since the kidnap attempt and her mood seemed to turn more and more depressed.

“Don't be like that. A lot of people, especially your grandfather, did a lot of work to make this happen," Izanami finished setting up the operating table and starting putting on the rubber sheet. "I honestly didn't think it would happen, not with how much surgery you first needed on your legs and arm."

“I know, I know." Obito adjusted the plastic sheets that covered Kamo's bookcase. "I should be happy, I should be grateful but.." she stood and sighed, "I still feel stuck, like nothing's really changed. I still feel useless no matter how much sewing and chores I do.”

“You need a family,” Izanami declared, getting out the disinfectant.

“I have a family, the biggest in Konoha remember?”

“I mean your own family. A partner and children. You're old enough to think about marriage.”

“I'm banned from babysitting anyone but Itachi, can barely remember to feed myself most days and you think I should have a kid? With who?” Demanded Obito, putting up her privacy and noise cancelling seals, disguised in embroidery hoops.

“Inabi's a fine choice, if you're over your girl phase.”

“It's not a phase!”

“Then Kaoru maybe? She's still got her original bottom bits and she seems to like you.”

“Auntie-” Obito took a deep breath, calming herself. Izanami loved her, she reminded herself. Her aunt had had five kids and raised a dozen foster kids, including herself. In Izanami mind if you couldn't be a shinobi you raised them instead.

“I'm not ready for a family. I'm way too young. Shouldn't I be stable and happy before I become seriously involved with other people?”

“Family makes you stable, family makes you happy.” Izanami smiled as she finished her work. “Think about it while you recover. Here," she passed Obito a wrapped bundle. “Something for your operation.”

Obito unwrapped a new set of sleeping clothes, warm flannel and bright orange, sunflower buttons on the top. "Oh."

“You do so much sewing for others, thought you might like something sewn just for you.”

“I love it.” Obito gave her aunt a hug.

“So put them on, the others will be here soon.”

Obito pulled away wiping back tears. “See you soon.”

 

There were only four people present for the operation: Obito and her grandfather Kamo, his favourite former apprentice Sumiya, now one of the top surgeons in the village and Hotaka. A former Uchiha who had married into the clan via Kamo's sister. After her death he had chosen to leave the clan and remarry, insulting many. But Kamo had kept touch and he had agreed to do the tricky operation.

“Gentlemen, ladies. Are we ready for this?” Hotaka finished his examination of the room and signaled his approval with a short nod. Obito activated her seals with her back to the room. No one could come in until one of them left the room.

“As ready as we'll ever be. Kamo, shall we?” Sumiya gestured to a white screen, set up against one wall.

“You're leaving me?” asked Obito forlornly, as Hotaka readied the anaesthetic.

Kamo kissed Obito's forehead, “I will be with you shortly, just have to get the eye ready for you.”

“Okay,” The anaesthetic was already working on her. “I love you.”

“I love you too...”

 

Obito had strange dreams. She was under the rock again, encased in darkness, screaming despite the blood pooling in her lungs.

She was in the prison yard, underground with the sun miles above her. Aimi clung to her side as she joked with the other prisoners.

He was in the corner of the classroom, last in the tests again. His classmates laughed and pointed. Rin sighed when he pulled faces at her, trying to make her smile.

He was watching Kakashi walk away from him, to a tall man with a tired smile but kind eyes.

Kushina was wishing him good luck, waving goodbye as Team Seven walked away from the village gates.

Kakashi was telling him to leave Rin behind, to put the mission first. This memory was in colour, clear and concise, like a Sharingan copied memory. It resonated with her whole body as he/she repeated their speech. Then the memory split, as if she was seeing the scene from her eyes and from someone else's. The scene faded.

She drifted, snippets of memories true and false floated through her. Her eye ached but she couldn't lift her hand to rub it. When she looked down her body was covered in blood.

She dreamed of Rin running by her side, she urging Rin to run faster, quicker. Something was chasing them.

There was blood, Rin could not run any further.

“Leave me,” she said calmly, eyeing the forest break beyond them.

“I won't.” Obito readied herself to fight, to kill. Her hand glowed with cracking chakra, “We both go or we both die.”

Obito turned to face their chasers, readied her chakra to struck and....

“Kakashi,” Rin said softly, bleeding out on her arm, “Run.”

Obito had Rin's blood on her face, on her arm. She felt Rin's heart stop, slowing it's beating against her wrist. She stared into Rin's face and watched her die.

 

 

She went back under her rock. It was less painful.

Obito woke up, both eyes bandaged. "Hello? she yelled, then regretted it as her throat was rough and dry. The familiar scent of her own room, the feel of her weapons under her pillow assured her she wasn't back in the Iwa's medic tents.

“You shouldn’t be awake yet,” Sumiya's voice answered back from by her door. “Go back to sleep.”

“Did it work, can I take off the bandages?” Obito reached up to touch the fabric across her eyes.

“No,” a hand snatched hers away from the bandages. “Hotaka said it looked good, but you need to sleep more.” Sakuya told her, gently pushing her back onto her pillows.

“I'm having horrible dreams,” Obito whispered as she settled back against her pillows. “I don't want more.”

“Should be your neurons readjusting. Think happy thoughts, happy memories.”

Obito closed her eyes reluctantly. “Sing to me?”

“No way. I only know drinking songs.”

“Please?”

“If I may?” Sumiya was nearer, she had walked into the room now, “That song Kamo always sings to stay awake in long shifts? He said I sang it well.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You really don't have to, she's fine-”

Softly, “Something something _let loose in the red meat market.  
open path, an escape from the screams and barking_-

Obito drifted away, her grandfather's favourite song in her mind.

Rin died in her arms again. Then again. Then she killed three three faceless men in the back with one glowing hand. She wanted to throw up but she had no mouth or stomach.  
  
She was six again and watching Kakashi run up to his father. He had a fist of chakra and he was going to run it through White Fang's stomach. She got up, shouting silently and ran towards Kakashi. White Fang turned into Rin already bleeding from her chest.

Obito reached Kakashi's back just before he reached Rin. She grabbed his arm, just below the elbow, other hand going around his side to hold him back  
“Enough. It's enough. She's dead. Just stop.” she said silently against his neck. His bare neck.  
When Kakashi turned to face her, his uncovered face was a giant Sharingan, staring down at her.

Obito screamed until her lungs ached and her throat burned. There was still no sound.

 _  
_ _So will you come back to my corner?_  
Spent too long alone tonight   
Would you come fight in my corner?   
A lit torch to the woodpile 

  
She was four years old, standing on a pile of old books, watching her grandfather sing as he took out a cadaver's heart.

“There now,” Kamo said, dropping the heart onto waiting scales. “That's a bit better, don't you think?”

Obito nodded. Her throat still hurt from the-

“No don't think about it. Stay here with me,” Kamo nodded to a notepad near her. “Write down the weights as I call them, alright?”

Obito nodded, her small hands finding her favourite pen, lost years ago. They spent hours quietly autopsying the body. Occasionally Obito felt like she could hear things outside of the room, but Kamo just waved a bloody hand. “Ignore it. If you don't want to see it, it shouldn't be at all.

After the autopsy her grandmother, eight years dead but looking exactly as she had when Obito was young, came in and helped Obito wash her hands carefully. Then Akena picked her up and rocked her to sleep, her grandfather singing as he put away his tools.

 _  
_ _Come find me now, where I hide and_  
We'll speak in our secret tongues  
So will you come back to my corner?   
Spent too long alone tonight   
Would you come fight in my corner?   
A lit torch to the wood piled high 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song lyrics from Woodpile by Frightened Rabbit, a few words changed to suit.  
> Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY4j8Ow-CTs


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betaed by the amazing YuliaLeafhill.
> 
> My Tumblr is also jemsquash, come and ask me stuff

 

 

 

Obito woke up alone. She could hear the sounds of someone in the kitchen and she could just sense the presence of her grandfather the next room over. Her eye-socket felt weird, full but also misshapen, as if the eye didn't quiet belong in her skull. Her eyelids were taped shut, on top of the bandages around her head. She felt like it might be dusk, that a long sleepless night awaited her. Obito slumped against her pillow, mindful of the knives tucked into the headboard.

The memories of her dreams would not fad. Obito was not one for self examination or deep contemplation. She avoided thinking on subjects she could not change. Her family considered this a benefit in her recovery, moving past events she could not change.   


“I saw Kakashi's memories.” she admitted out aloud, into the silence of her room, “I've been seeing things from my- from his eye for a while now.” It stung to say it.   


She had seen Rin and her death at Kakashi's hands. She hadn't truly believed he had killed her. When she had been told she thought they meant Kakashi had abandoned Rin, had left her behind to complete a mission. As if what Obito had said to him a lifetime ago had meant nothing to him. But he clearly remembered her speech, word for word, and had tried to live by them instead of his beloved rules of a shinobi.   


“He didn't want to kill her.” Kakashi had refused to leave Rin, had stood his ground and prepared to fight to the death. Just as Obito would have. Rin sacrificed herself to save Kakashi. Just as Obito had.   


The start of tears stung her new eye so she forced them down, breathing in and out until she felt calm again.   


“I have to speak to him.” It had been a year and they had spoken to each other twice. Rin would be so mad at them. Minato would give them his disappointed face. Kushina would bang their heads together.   


“I have to get better. Fast.” She would speak to Kakashi the day she could walk out of the compound unescorted, she promised herself. It would take time to train up, to reach the level of a competent Genin, be deemed able to defend herself and her eye.   


But if there was one thing her family believed in, it was rising to a challenge.

 

 

When Obito's eyes were uncovered they were identical, surgery scars already fading. She saw perfectly out of both of them. She cried.   


She cried even harder when she saw her grandfather with his own surgery scars around his new, but not quite right, eye.   
  
“Oh hush child,” he said turning her face in his hands to look at his old eye, “I wasn't using it for much and you have a greater need than I.”   


“You should have told me,” she sobbed.   


“'Why should both my eyes go to waste'. Those were your words, were they not?” he patted her cheek gently, “I won't be working as a coroner for much longer and -”   


“Wait. Why aren't you working anymore?” She settled more comfortably on the foot stool by her grandfather's chair.   


Kamo considered his words. “There appears to be little use for my services outside of the police forces, and we seldom get bodies brought in to the station these days. I've been working mostly on the backlog and cold cases as it is.”   


“Why?” Obito tracked his dark eyes, “Are fewer people dying in suspicious circumstances?”   


“No, it's just that our jurisdiction has shifted slightly over the last few months. The ANBU deal with most suspicious deaths, including removing and examining of bodies.”   


“So don't they want your help, for the weirder stuff?”   


“It appears not,” Kamo smiled, “But that just means I have more time to teach you how to control those eyes. We'll start with this,” He pulled out a large novel with a figure reclining by a tree on the cover.   


“You want me to read you romance novels?”   


“They are historical dramas that happen to have a love story as one of the storylines.” Kamo said calmly, passing her the book, “Be glad I don't read that Icha Icha nonsense.”   


“You gave me your Sharingan, I'd read you anything you wanted,” Obito opened the book to the feathered bookmark, “But does anyone else know about you giving up your eye?”   


“Just the two who operated and Sakuya who was sworn to secrecy. Once you've healed, we'll see how the Sharingan work together. It should be enough to drive off all but the most suicidal bloodline hunters.”

  
  


_ Brat, _ __   
  


_ Suna is a tricky situation of late, with the succession crisis over the Wind Daimyo. If your  _ friend (Obito could almost hear his perverted giggle) _ did make it home, she's probably still under close surveillance. I've done you a favour and stopped your other letters. Messages from Konoha will not help her chances of being accepted back into the ranks. Be patient, I have a plan. _ __   
__   
_ Your seal experiments are inventive and unique. But you have a tendency to be sloppy once you think you've mastered one. This will get you and people around you killed when you move onto more powerful seals. Focus on the basics until you've perfected them, until you can make them day and night at a moment's notice. _ __   


_ The one to go to about this new sealing style is Orochimaru, but he's focused on poison and body modifications at the moment. I'll try and speak to him about lessons for you when I get back. He's mentioned wanting an Uchiha student and he hates kids, he'll love you. _ _   
_

_ Sorry to hear about the whole attempted kidnap and house arrest situation, please consult the attached scrolls 'A-hundred-new-ways-to-blow-stuff-up.' and 'barrier-seals-and-you'. On a more serious note, perhaps the Hyuuga might be the clan to ask about protecting your eye. I've never been able to broach the subject of seals without getting a Gentle Fist to the stomach, but you might have better luck. _ _   
_

_ Will try and visit during the Anniversary next month, but probably won't manage. Put some flowers on the monument for me. Minato loved those yellow flowers with the blue centers, said they matched him. Something big and bright for Kushina. Use the money I've enclosed. _

_ Stay safe, WORK ON YOUR BASICS and keep up your spirits, _

_ The Great and Gallant Jiraiya _

 

 

 

“I can't do it.” Obito collapsed back onto the ground.

“When did you learn what can't means?” asked Naomi boredly. She was propped over a travel desk, piles of notes and books lying around the training field.

“Since a rock crushed half my body!” Obito shrieked to the sky. She couldn't run with her leg, couldn't do half her old training exercises with her shoulder and now she couldn't even do a set of sit-ups.

“So this is where you give up?” Naomi was still paging through a book, “After surviving said rock crushing, a POW camp, a solo trek across half of fire country and a year of painful recovery. A few measly sit-ups is where you draw the line.”

“Shut up!” Obito yelled at her, struggling to sit up. “You have no idea what I've been through!”

“No and I don't want to. You always had a pain tolerance that staggered belief. If you say you can't go on then I believe you. Just seems a pity, that now is where you stop.”

Obito lay back down, a thousand responses on her mind. She settled for a scream of frustration, before settling into a position that didn't aggravate her shoulder too much and restarting her sit-ups.

Naomi checked a list and made a tick, “You still happy to make my bed linen?”

Obito panted. “Yeah? Should be done before the wedding. If I don't die training.” She stopped talking, having no breath left.

Naomi continued to go over her wedding to-do list, “Should I push for the reception to be outside the compound? Daisuke wants it at his folk's home.”

“If you want to, then push. Oh god my stomach.”

“Okay, now do twenty more. Double time.”

 

 

“Again,” called Kamo.

Obito gestured with her hand, both Sharingan spinning.

“Why are you gesturing? You don't need to.”

She hissed through her teeth and retook her starting position. Her Sharingan's tomoe spun, the left a second slower than the right. She spat out fire.

“No,” Kamo said from his comfortable seat on the garden bench. “Flames have smoke and heat. You're concentrating too hard on the smell this time.”

Obito hissed, started again and cast her genjutsu.

“Only one eye is on dear. Again!”

Obito screamed, cast an actual fire jutsu and set the hedge on fire.

Kamo consulted his watch. “Twelve minutes till you lost your temper this time. You're getting better.”

Obito just growled and got the watering bucket.

“Turn off your eye dear.”

“I can't, it’s stuck again!” Shouted Obito, putting out the hedge fire and dropping the bucket. Her Sharingan slowly rotated, focusing on nothing.

“Come here then,” Kamo beckoned her forward. There had been many complications with her new eye, sometimes refusing to turn on, other times not turning off. Her original eye remained the same, though it was almost impossible to get both eyes to spin in tandem. Her grandfather held limited control over his old eye, had been the one to draw Obito out of her mismatched nightmares and into his own memories during her surgery.

“I want to try this time.” Obito cupped her hand around her new eye, channeling chakra through her fingers. Gently she sent her chakra through the eye, reminding it that it was her eye now, under her control. It fought her, something everyone assured her was impossible. She gently coaxed it to turn off. Eventually, it did.

“Success!” she smiled widely at her grandfather, waving at her black eyes.

“Wonderful. Now genjutsu without the Sharingan.” ordered Kamo, pointing back to the still smoking hedge.

 

 

Obito's monthly medication supply sat on the counter, while the clan herbalist Daiki scrutinised a new bottle. “I'm not sure you should be taking these and a second lot of painkillers. Maybe only take the first kind I gave you?”

“But if I don't have painkillers for my back I can't sleep despite the sleeping pills.” Obito explained patiently.

“I can give you something stronger...”

“I don't want to sleep so deeply I can't wake up if I have bad dreams.” Her dreams were nowhere as bad as they had been during her eye surgery, but she wasn't going to risk being trapped in her worst memories again.

“Well then you'll have to pick...wait.” Daiki took on a thoughtful look. “You have the Sharingan.”

“Yeah.”

“Can't you just knock yourself out with a mirror or something?”

“...still won't be able to wake up when I want.” Obito finally replied.

“Right sorry, civilian upbringing.” Daiki shrugged. He went back to looking for the last of her prescription.

“Hey, I'm still clueless about most things,” Obito assured him, starting to pocket her pill bottles. “I only just found out the Hokage's wife died two years ago.”

“Oh.” Daiki didn't look up. “That happened, yes.”

“During the Nine-Tail attack? But we mourn her during the end of war anniversary, do I have that right?”

“The shinobi tend to observe the war anniversary, with grave visits and speeches and the like. They mourn the service deaths from the war and the Nine-tails attack at the same time. In October it's more about the civilian deaths and celebrating the Fourth Hokage's victory.”

“Right.” Obito took the last of her medication. “Makes sense. So you don't get a free drink?”

“No, but I don't have to stand at attention for several hours listening to speeches to get said free drink.” Daiki smiled at her. “Don't forget the fish oil tablets.”

“Really?” Obito looked at the pills in disgust.

“Your aunt, my wife and most of the old people insisted.”

 

 

“Are you okay?” Kaoru asked, coming across Obito at dusk, staring up at the sky.   
  


Obito, winded from a brisk jog around the compound, gave her a glance, before returning to her gaze of the heavens. “I'm fine, really. I just...”

“You just?” Kaoru smiled at her, but not stopping her slow walk.

“I miss seeing the stars. You don't see much from here, the lights of the village block them.”

Kaoru stopped, “Alright.”

“My team used to camp in the tree tops whenever we could. Sensei liked the view and he'd tell us all these stories about what the stars meant and how they got there. They were all wrong, not our stories. But it was nice. I told myself when I came home I'd look at the stars every chance I got...this is fine.” She waved up at the few visible pinpricks of light.

“Okay,” Kaoru took a few steps away from her, then sighed and came back, "Hey, Obito," Obito looked at her.

“Watch my hands,” Obito did so, as Kaoru made a long series of hands seals, as if she was in the middle of a dance.

“Now look up.”

Obito did. The sky was a wash in stars, as if every light in Konoha was out. Obito reached up, feeling like she could touch them.

“Hey hey,” Kaoru grabbed her hand and held it. “Don't break the genjutsu.”

“It's just like I remember,” Obito choked out, “The Weeping Tree, the Warriors Three, the Snake Eating its own Tail.”

“Are are you okay?” Kaoru still held her hand.

“Oh I'm always crying, just ignore it.” Obito reached up to wipe her eyes, remembered her surgery scars and settled for just brushing the tears off her cheeks. “You're really good at genjutsu, aren’t you?”

“Best in the clan, with or without the Sharingan.” Said Kaoru proudly.

“I still stink at them, with or without the Sharingan.”

“If, if you want... we could go somewhere and I could give you a few tips?” Kaoru hesitantly offered.

“I'd like that. Just give me a minute.” Obito's shoulder started to ache from her neck being turned up so high. She ignored it, tracing patterns and lights. “There's a Sharingan up there you know.”

“Really?”

“There,” Obito pointed north. “Those three stars circle around a really little one, you sometimes can't even see it. But it's always there, the bigger stars orbiting around it.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” Said Kaoru softly to herself.   
  


“What?” Obito relaxed her neck and looked at her. Her hair was a mess, one of her eye scars was bleeding again and her jacket was old and faded.

“Nothing. Do you want to eat out or go to my place?”

 

 

 

The morning of the third anniversary, marking the end of the Third War, Obito frowned at the hallway mirror. She had been awake since dawn and pacing up around the house for ages, waiting for her escort.

“Hey do you know where Obito went...” Inabi came in, blinked at her and handed over her requested flowers without looking away from her. “You look...uh ...wow.”

“It's just a new shirt,” Obito untied the bouquet, extracting flowers for a new arrangement. The Uchiha, like every other family in Konoha, would attend a ceremony at the war monument. Then Obito, and other veterans of the war would go to a bar for their free drink. It would be the first time in over two months that Obito left the compound.   


“I had to fight for them but I got your flowers- wow.” Kaoru stopped dead at the doorway. “Obito you look uh..”

“Yes wow. I'm getting that.” Obito took her bouquet as well. “Thanks for the flowers.” She wore the traditional shirt of the Uchiha, high collar coming up to her chin, made-up face mostly hidden. She hadn't thought the change was that different to her usual attire. But it was the first time in an age she had gotten properly dressed up, complete with hair styled by her aunt.

“Why did you bring Obito flowers?” demanded Inabi to Kaoru.

“Because she asked me to. Why did you?”

“Because she asked ME.”

“Obito!” Shisui and Itachi dashed in, avoiding the arguing Inabi and Kaoru, “We got you the flowers.”

“Perfect!” Obito took their flowers as well, giving both boys a kiss on the head. Inabi and Kaoru stopped glaring at each other to glare at the younger boys. “Almost enough.”

“Almost?”

Three more deliveries and Obito deemed her three bouquets completed. One was huge, a riot of bright yellow daisies and multicoloured flowers indigenous to Whirlpool. The others were smaller, one dainty purple arrangement, sweet smelling and wrapped in multicoloured thread; the other a very simple bunch of white and light blue field flowers.

“Alright,” Obito adjusted her hair clips and checked her make-up. (lipstick already wiped off, eyes smudged and quickly redone by Sakuya.) “Let's do this.”

She marched out the door to join the throng of Uchiha gathering by the main entrance. Her flower delivery helpers rushed to follow her.

  
  


The whole shinobi population seemed to be at the War Monument, surrounding the great fire statue. All wore black, making it hard to separate where family groups started and ended. The Uchiha took up a great amount of space to the left. Obito, right in the middle of the crowd, family surrounding her, could just make out the Hokage and his old teammates on a raised stand. Next to him, Orochimaru stood looking bored. Minato would be welcoming, even at such a solemn occasion, Obito thought resentfully.

The old man to the left of Orochimaru, with bandages over his one eye seemed even more ill at ease, constantly scanning the crowd. His one eye seemed to pick out each Uchiha, making her family stiffen around her. Obito fought the urge to stick out her tongue when his gaze drifted over her. Rin would want her to behave on this day.

The speeches were long. The Fire Daimyo's representative made a speech, the Hokage made a speech, some high ranking merchant woman made a speech. Obito's eyes unfocused and drifted over the crowds, looking for anything interesting. A tree branch to one side drew her gaze, though there was nothing there. She stared at it, closing one eye then the other.

For a second the weird double vision occurred, and Obito saw herself from the tree branch, standing out despite her family's best efforts. Her orange hair clips caught in the light, her high neck was bent on one side. Her huge bouquet was a riot of colour compared to the black and blue figures around her, all clutching dainty white flowers.

Shisui nudged her and gave her a quizzing look. He gestured to her cheeks, which were red with a blush. She smiled and pretended to pay attention to the Hokage, who was calling for the offerings to start.

Five representatives had been chosen from the Uchiha family to lay down their flowers. Obito offered her bouquets to Chiaki as she went past.

Chiaki looked at her and the bouquets in confusion, then smiled. She tugged Obito forward, taking her place in the line and making Obito go forward after the other representatives.

Slowly, praying her legs wouldn't freeze up and she wouldn’t knock the whole monument over, she went forward. Behind her furious whispers broke out, first from the Uchiha side then spreading throughout the whole crowd. Was her bouquet that ridiculous? Obito smirked and approached the monument. Kushina would have loved them, Minato-sensei and Rin would have smiled, like they had when she did something silly but well meant.

She put down her flowers, and bowed her head, "I miss you so much it hurts to breath. I would go through the war a hundred times over to have you back." she whispered.

She turned to walk away, ignoring her one tear. The crowd had settled down, more shinobi lining up to pay their respects. Only a few solitary people seemed to stare at her as she went back to her place. She almost tipped on the way down the incline, but Osuma was ready to nonchalantly grab her hand, steady her and give comforting a squeeze.

"Yes, that’s Obito alright,” a whisper carried to her ears. Most of her clan turned to glare in the direction it came from.

“I think we better go now,” Inabi whispered as she retook her place. “Fugaku is not going to like you going up there. He might send you home.”

“Shit.” Obito whispered trying to get a hold of herself, still emotional over her soft words. “Okay, let's go.”

Her group of nine quietly slipped back a row, then another, then another until they were at the back of the crowd. Then they scampered away, Obito and Shisui giggling quietly as they ran like naughty school children.

 

 

 

Being one of the first customers to arrive, Obito and her group got an actual table in the Hairless Otter, in the prime location against two walls with clear sight-lines of all four exits.

“Nice,” said Shisui settling next to Obito on the bench. “But should you be drinking?”

“Excuse me little boy, but I've given up my meds for three days for this drink,” Obito clutched her glass to her chest, “Should you be drinking is the question."

“I'm a veteran too!”

“You're twelve, go get your drink and I'll drink it for you.”

With Shisui gone Obito found herself seated between Kaoru and Inabi, each eyeing the other over her head. Obito drank her own beer a little nervously. She had been putting off any thoughts of romance with anyone, but it seems her clan had other ideas. She planned to ignore the whole situation unless forced to say something.

After she almost spilt her drink down her shirt, she sighed and put down her glass. She took out her hair clips, unzipped her high collar and folded it down, using the clips to secure the sides down neatly. The entire table paused in their quiet talking to stare at her and the modest amount of bust and dark orange undershirt now on display.

“They can do that?” whispered Osuma reaching up to his own high collar to see if there was a zip on his too.

“Special modification for the Uchiha who keep dropping things down their front,” Said Obito self-consciously fluffing up her loose hair.

“Obito! It is you!” A dramatic burst of wind accompanied that declaration as Gai Maito appeared in front of their table. Even with the bar fast filling up with people, Gai managed to have a wide berth of space around him.

“What's it to you?” Inabi demanded, arm coming over to block Obito's view.

“Inabi! Calm down.” Obito pushed away his arm and smiled at Gai widely. “Hi Gai! Long time no see.”

“I didn't believe it. I refused to listen to gossip. Obito Uchiha: hiding from the world.” Gai voice carried throughout the room.

“Shush!” hissed the Uchiha, eyeing every corner for assailants and angry elders.

“Obito Uchiha hides from no one!” said Obito just as loudly.

“Shush!” hissed her family.

“Except bloodline hunters, clan elders, interfering family...” Obito allowed, sitting back down.

“Sounds like nothing much has changed then,” Tekuno said walking up with a tray of pitchers. “Anyone care for a refill.”

“Tekuno!” Obito clambered over Kaoru to give Tekuno a hug, while Mai swiped his tray and pointedly checked it for poison. Obito gave her a glare over Tekuno's broad shoulders. It was really bad etiquette to do that so obviously.

“They said you died, then two years later they took your name off the monument with no explanation. No one would tell us anything!”

“Really?” Obito pulled away to smiled at the approaching Kurenai and Asuma, “I just thought no one cared.”

“No. No no on." Kurenai gave her the next hug, dodging Kaoru's blocking hand. “We didn't know anything, we were so confused when your name turned up on the pension roster, I had so many meetings trying to find out where you were.”

“And if you were really a girl.” Gemma eyed her up and down, until Asuma smacked him in the side. “I did not see that one coming.”

“I was with my family.” Obito gestured to the table. Shisui was fighting off Sakuya's attempts to get his weird blue drink, Mai was still checking the pitchers for poison. Inabi and Kaoru were now arm wrestling. Kofun and Osuma were death glaring the next table over, daring them to ask for the empty seats at the table. Naomi was off at the bar trying to find out where they got their tablecloths from and if she could borrow some for her wedding.

Obito sighed at her dysfunctional family and turned back to her friends. “But Kakashi knew a week after I got back, didn't he tell any of you?”

There was a series of looks exchanged among her classmates. “Kakashi doesn’t talk to us much these days.” said Tekuno awkwardly.

“Typical.” Obito closed her eyes for a second, the heat and crowd of the bar hitting her. She opened them and looked at her standing friends then back at her clan, all pointedly sprawling across their seats, “Would you like to sit with us?”

“Obito, no!” Most of her family protested.

“Quiet you,” Obito smacked her hand on the table. “I haven't seen my friends in years and you are all acting like brats. Shisui give me that!” Obito took his drink and gulped it down, “Now either they sit with us or I sit with them. Got it?”

 

 

Memories of that night were blurry after that. These are the bits that Obito remembered clearly.

“Hey look it's Sumiya, you should go talk to her!” Obito waved at the blonde across the room from them.

Sakuya, perfect brave stoic Sakuya blanched, “What no, why should I do that?”

“Because she's the nice medic that helped give me this eye and you liked talking to her?”

Sakuya looked at her blankly, “That makes no sense.”

Obito smacked her hand down on the table again, narrowly avoiding Shisui and Gemma's senbon pyramid. “Go and talk to the pretty medic Sakuya!”

“Fine!” Sakuya stood and walked off purposefully. She stopped and looked back once, an expression of nerves on her face. Obito made a shooing motion with her hands and she finally approached Sumiya and started talking.

“So-” Obito wagged her eyebrow at Kurenai. “You look amazing, new genjutsu?”

“No.” Kurenai sipped her water. “We're not talking about that. You're a girl now?”

“I was born a girl but was a boy during the war. It made life simpler.” Obito played with the zip of her shirt.

“Simpler with Rin?”

“No.” Obito looked away. “My family always does that, hides its girls during war. I… I never said anything to Rin about it, but I think she knew...”

“Did you ever tell her?"

“I told her what was important, what I wanted her to know,” Obito shrugged. “I was dying, I didn't want to make her more upset.”

“Right.” Kurenai took another sip of her water. “I really hope we're talking about the same thing here.”

“Doubt it. So you’re a genjutsu specialist now...”

 

 

“You wanna go punk? You wanna go?”   


“Kofun, we agreed you'd stop calling people your own age punk!”

 

“Okay but look at this scar! Look at it!” Tekuno showed off a long scar across his shoulder and forearm.   


“Oh please,” Kaoru lifted her shirt to show off the still pink stomach scar.   


“You are all adorable.” Obito starting tugging at her own clothing. “But look at mine!”

“Put your leg back on Obito.”

 

“And… and he said he didn't care what I wore as long as I was there!” Naomi sobbed against Kofun's disinterested back. “What kind of man says something like that?”

“Someone who loves you?” hazarded Mai, not sure what her point was.

“No! Someone who doesn't care enough! Do you know how hard I've been working on this event?”

“No?”

“That's because you're selfish, you're all so selfish!” Naomi pulled away from Kofun to take another shot of saki. He made an attempt to leave but she kept a grip on his shirt. “I should have just married you like our parents wanted!”

“...I'm gay.”

“That's not the point Ko!”

  
  


Somehow, though a series of drinks and laughs, Obito ended up against a bathroom stall.

“I love your breasts.”

“Well I like your arms.”

“Pole training will that affect. Gives you calluses like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I believe you,” said calluses were under a shirt tracing a bra.

“Your stomach is so cute and squishy.”

“Your lips are stunning.”

Obito banged on the door. “Sakuya! Are you sure I can't leave you alone for this?”

Sakuya shouted back from inside the bathroom stall with Sumiya, “You stay right where I can see your feet. There could be infiltrators all over the bar and everyone else is too drunk to react fast enough in a crisis.”

“I'm sure Sumiya doesn't want me to listen to this!”

“Oh I don't mind,” assured Sumiya, “It's rather thrilling knowing someone is so close.”

Sakuya giggled wickedly and the loud kissing noises restarted. Obito sighed loudly and tried to block out their noises with her hands.

 

 

 

Obito and her escort staggered into the compound, two minutes after curfew, in various states of drunkenness and clothing. Obito was the only one to giggle at Fugaku, a sleepy Sasuke in his arms, giving identical stares of disapproval as they swayed past.

Hours later, at dawn Obito was tested on her fighting skills. Some would be hampered by the hangover, lack of usual medication and sleep. Obito was just pissed off and happy to finally have a way to show it.

About ten minutes into the spar, the three Genin fighting her lay whimpering on the ground.

“She bit me!”

“My eyes, my eyes!”

“I want that knife back!”

Fugaku just sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I said a nice clean fight.”

Obito gave him a bloodstained smile. “You said that to them, not me.”

The Uchiha were beautiful in battle. Their elegance and poise confounded just as many opponents as their genjutsu and hand to hand skills. One poet, upon witnessing Uchiha fight wrote that the gift of seeing an Uchiha in the heat of battle was worth the risk of third-degree burns. He then waxed lyrical about their graceful movements, their elegance and poise for several award winning stanzas.

Obito spat out blood and spit, rubbed more mud on her wrist to stop the bleeding and readjusted her grip on the stolen knife. Her nose had stopped bleeding but yesterday's shirt was already stained down the front.

The only words written of Obito's fighting style boiled down to 'oh god why'.

She smiled at the Genin. “Who's next.”

Fugaku sighed again. He waved the Genin off the field. “One more opponent. If you defeat him, then you really can defend yourself and the confinement will be called off.”

He snapped his fingers. Itachi appeared at his side, as if he had always been there. He looked uncertain.

“That's not fair!” Shouted Obito, backing away. Itachi trained with the family's Chuunin and rarely lost against them.

“Kumo and Iwa will not be fair when they come for you!” Fugaku said, raising his hand to start the match.

The following battle was fast and brutal. Even with her longer reach and heavier weight Obito was hard pressed to get a hit in. Her only real advantage was her ability to take hits without slowing and a truly impressive amount of dirty fighting. Itachi didn't know the pinches and tugs, the handholds and cheat seals a former Chuunin with time on the battlefield learnt. But he was relentless, made no mistakes, wasted no energy or openings in Obito's defences.

Itachi was winning, wearing her down. Obito could see her freedom disappearing. Her eyesight blurred, she ducked and feinted left with a kick. She saw Itachi's fist coming for her stomach. Her body moved.

When her sight restored, she was pinning Itachi to the ground, hands choking him. She had no idea how she managed it. Fugaku called the spar to an end.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Obito immediately up and helped Itachi stand. She checked his throat nervously, “You okay?”

Itachi smiled at her. “Why wouldn't I be?” he said calmly, bruises already forming on his arms.

Fugaku came forward. “If you are captured again there will be no rescue, no hostage negotiation. You have to understand that.”

Obito glared up at him, still holding Itachi's hurt arms. “I didn't get one before, why would I expect one now?”

“I wanted to make sure you understand.” Fugaku knelt down to her level. “I don't say these things to hurt you.” Gently Fugaku put out a finger and poked her forehead, “I just want you to be safe.”

Obito sighed, feeling aches all over her body. “So can I go out tomorrow?”

“You always report to the gate guards where you're going and for how long. Send messages to the nearest station every two hours, no matter what. Be back before dark.”

“Thank you!” It was only Itachi still between them, that kept Obito from hugging the clan head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter the reunion everyone wants and actual taking about their feelings. I swear.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always unbetaed, unpolished but fill of my blood, sweat and tears.  
> Please comment about anything from spelling mistakes to ways you think it could have gone better.

Obito went home, took as many pills as she could safely take in one go and slept for the rest of the day. She woke at dusk, had a shower and more pills, then sat down to an early dinner with her grandfather. She hummed agreeably when he said they would go into the centre of the village together tomorrow. Then she went back to bed. She woke before dawn, unable to sleep longer and stared at the Team 7 quilt still resting on her work desk.   


Her room was small and cluttered, with no wall space free to hang the quilt. To put it on her bed would be a disaster, her bed sheets were always dirtied by the end of the week. Her quilt, even with its protective seals would not be safe. And there was no one else who would realise its significance, who needed it as much as she did.   


She looked at the quilt for a long time, before she finally folded it up and put it in a bag.

She left the house as the sun rose, leaving a note for her grandfather. Kamo would understand.

 

 

Obito stood at the compound entrance, watching as the double doors were slowly swung open, ready for the new day. She took a step, then stopped. Did she lock the front door? Turn off the kitchen tap properly? Did she remember where everything was? Did she have enough money, enough weapons? Maybe she should wait until someone could go with her...

“Do you need a push?” asked one guard, while the other sniggered.

Obito gave him a haughty look, tightened her grip on the bundle in her arms and took a step forward, then another. She was out of the compound, just, and had no idea which way to go. She turned back to the guards. One was now openly laughing at her, the other helpfully pointed to the left. She walked away, her dignity in tatters.

“I bet you a midnight shift she's back in less than an hour.”

“I bet you she'll get lost and we'll have to go looking for her.”

Obito left the compound with a precise set of aims in mind. She was going to go to the veteran centre and find out exactly how much pension she was supposed to be getting (her clan being circumstantial on the issue and demanding to know why she was even bothering about such things, when they gave her everything she could possibly need). There she would also see about getting an address for Kakashi. She would report in at the central police station, let them know she was still alive and grab lunch from a food stall. (she could pick what to eat! Not limiting herself to what was in the fridge, the police canteen or on her aunt's table.) Then she would go find Kakashi and actually talk to him, before making her way home leisurely.   
  
Of course Konoha had radically changed since her Chuunin days, peace and Kyuubi making a huge difference to how streets were arranged and named. In the first two hours she just managed to find the central police station and report in. They gave her a map and directions to the centre, letting her leave her bag with them. It took her over an hour to find the veteran centre, where a long queue waited for her. So she turned back to the station, reported in early then raced back to join the queue to the information desk.

Several attempts, multiple paperwork filled in and an ID finally recognised later, Obito got her pension details. “Seems kinda little,” she muttered walking out of the building.

“Clan members get less than ordinary veterans. They decided you're more likely to be taken care of than others.” A young mother with a missing arm and two toddlers told her, tucking away her paid out pension money.

“I guess..” Obito frowned again and tucked away from the paper. “Where would you do to get information on active shinobi?”

“The mission tower?”

Obito looked up at the tower looming at the distance, it's high dome glinting in the morning sun. “Yeah, that's not going to happen...”

Her conversation partner looked up from bundling one child into a back sling, “Too little time?”

“Too many stairs.” Obito nodded to her false leg, tapping it and making a loud noise. The toddler still loose immediately trotted up to hit it himself. Obito smiled at him as his mother apologised. “Glad someone's still in a good mood.”

She returned to the station to report in for the third time and bribed a young relative to go up to the mission room for Kakashi's address. The Genin came back, took Obito's money and ran off before she could open the document and see all it said was 'Confidential Information'. Left with no money, little time and tired legs Obito retired to a park bench to try and work something else out.   
  
  
  


_ Come on you can do this. _ Obito closed her eyes, and sent her chakra out around her, scanning the area for some sign of Kakashi's own chakra. All she found was the bratty boy who had taken her money scoffing down dumplings and resolved to have her revenge another day.

She tried again, this time closing one eye then the other, doing the out of focus thing she had used at the memorial service. Come on. Just focus. Be calm and focus. Nothing.

She closed her new eye, letting it activate under her eyelid. Obito sent a pulse of chakra through it, still letting her scanning senses zone out in different directions.   


There was a tiny echo of chakra some way to the west. Obito gathered her things, and walked fast in that direction, only stopping to give the brat a clip on the ear as she passed him.

  
  
  
  


Four streets later Obito closed her eyes and did the chakra pulse again, and followed the echo to a large bland apartment building. She had an hour till she needed to report back. She squared her shoulders and went up to the front door. There were no names on any of the buzzers. One more chakra pulse. The echo was one story up on the left. She tried the front door. It was locked. She willed it to open. It remained locked.

She was just about to give up when someone opened it from the inside.   


“Thank you!” She gave the startled man a smile and slowly went up the stairs, clinging to the rail.   


In the right passageway, approaching the door Obito belatedly had second thoughts. What if it was too late, what if Kakashi really didn't want to talk to her. She didn't have anything planned to say and she was running out of time. Maybe she should just give up and come back another day. She stood frozen for a while unwilling to give up, but uncertain to go on.   


She finally decided to just leave her gift on Kakashi's doorstep. That was the smartest move which gave them both time to think. It wasn't cowardly at all.

As she was putting her bundle carefully on the doorstep, the door opened. Kakashi and Obito froze; she crouching, he still holding the door. Then Obito lost her balance and wobbled wildly, false leg almost coming loose.   


Kakashi grabbed her elbow, steadying her. He kept a hold of her with his left hand until she regained her balance and came up to stand, facing him. Then he dropped his hand like it was burning.

“Umm.” Obito gestured to the bundle, him, the hallway clock. “I thought I'd have more time to uh... gather my thoughts.”

“I could go back inside if you want.”

Obito wasn't sure if he was serious. “I just brought you this. I missed your birthday so...”

Kakashi lend down and picked up the quilt, right out of its bag. He seemed puzzled, unfolding it once to see a bit more of the pattern. “It's...nice?”

Obito's eye twitched. She immediately regretted her choices leading up to this moment.

“Wait..” Kakashi traced a branch with a single finger. Hesitantly he brought the quilt up and sniffed a green square. “Minato's jacket, his scent… how did you get this?”

“I was just bored, bored and I had so much time and I got a few things given to me and I thought I'd make it. And you can just keep it. I'll make another….” Obito was abruptly done for the day.

“And Kushina's scent and mine and yours and...” He looked at Obito who was fidgeting, trying to show she wanted to leave. “How did you get the scents to stay?”

“Oh you know…. seals and stuff...I really have to go now: curfew, overprotective family, bloodline hunters...” she pointed to the stairs, “We'll talk soon okay? Talk properly.”   


She darted for the stairs like a coward.

She stopped outside the apartment for a quick freak-out. “Stupid stupid. Oh you know 'seals and stuff '. Ggrrrr!” She slumped against the apartment wall exhausted by her quick descent down the stairs. Her back was killing her and she thought her false leg might be damaged or something. “This was a mistake.” She wrapped her arms around herself and felt miserable.

“Obito!” Kakashi ran out of the door past her. “Wait!”

“Uhhh” Obito waved a hand when he looked back to see her against the wall. They stared at each other for a while.

Kakashi rearranged his body into an ultra relaxed slouch. “Can I walk you back?” he asked calmly, as if he hadn't just come running after her.

Obito pushed herself off the wall and came to stand next to him hesitantly. “Okay...”

Their walk back to the compound was at a fast pace, not conducive to talk. Not that either seemed to know what to say.

“...you have a new eye.”

“Yes, my grandfather gave it to me- From a corpse! He got it and gave it to me from a corpse. Who donated his body! It's fresh! And legal!” Obito broke off her babbling to cough.

“Okay.”

Awkward silence.   
  
“I got permission to move about the village alone. I had to fight three Genin, then Itachi who counts as a Genin, almost.”

“Weren’t you hurt?”

“A bit, not as much as they were.” Obito smiled then stopped when she couldn't read Kakashi's masked face. She used to be better at picking up his moods.

She tried other topics. “Did you go to the service the day before? I didn't spot you in the crowd.”

“I was there.”

More silence

“Who were the white flowers for?”

“What?”

“You had a big bunch of flowers for Minato-sensei and Kushina, and the small purple flowers...what were the white flowers you had for.”

Obito rubbed her hands together. “Just...everyone else really. All the other people that died during the war, that I knew and missed...”

“Not for...” Kakashi made a complicated motion with his hands, but seemed to be indicating to himself.

“No? You're still alive Kakashi. You survived the war.”

“Right.”

They turned a corner. The streets got quieter and more deserted as they got closer to the Uchiha Compound.

“Are you going to be going out a lot, by yourself?”

“Not at first. It's a hassle to have to report in every two hours. I think I'll only go out a bit, to my clinic appointments and stuff. Plus I don't have money to do anything.”

“Why don't you have any money.” Kakashi sounded calm, though Obito thought he felt agitated.

“My pension gets deposited into the Uchiha general account, which the whole family shares. I don't really have a source of income at the moment.”

“They can't do that!”

“Who? The pension fund?”

“The Uchiha!”

“Well, they have been paying for all my medication and clinic visits, plus all my operations. And all my meals and all the sewing equipment I can justify needing. So yes, I think my clan can do that.” Obito looked at him in confusion. “I'm not starving or destitute or anything, I just don't have money for treats or eating out. I can probably earn some by remembering to ask for payment when I mend stuff.” She shrugged. “I just always forget, is all. Give me a week or two and I'll be fine. Really.”

Kakashi still seemed upset.

“Kakashi! I'm fine! Really. I have so much time on my hands I'm glad I have something to do.”

Kakashi gave a short nod, signalling the end of the discussion. They walked on.

“I have appointments at the clinic in Yellowwood street, every other day.” Obito offered tentatively. “Maybe we met there next week sometime? I don't know the times yet-”

“I'll see you there.” Kakashi stopped walking, just as they approached the corner that would turn to the compound gates. He turned and walked back the way they had come, without a backwoods glance.

“At least say goodbye!” Obito called after him, repressing the urge to call him names.

He waved a hand at her, still not turning to look back.

“That boy is as irritating ever,” she muttered turning the last corner and arriving at the compound gates. The new shift of guards was older and kinder and glad of the distraction of Obito regaling them with the trials of the veteran centre.

  
  
  


Obito's visits to Mariko's clinic resumed. After an hour long lecture on all the ways her body was a mess and how it was a miracle Obito could still walk under her own power, Mariko admitted to being glad she was back and told her Neji was now seeing right through bodies and having nightmares about it. This was normal for Hyuuga apparently.

It felt natural to accept the request she work at the front desk of the South Police Station, dealing with civilians and their interactions with the police. Obito had grown fond of the people that worked there and wanted something to fill her time. The station was on the quiet side which gave her a lot of time to chat and sew.

A salary was a point of contention. The desk sergeant argued that the work was just so Obito had something to keep her occupied and in a safe place, that they could easily get in a retired police worker or Genin looking for work experience. Obito for two weeks dealt with various altercations between civilians and police, attempted to understand the conflicting laws shinobi and civilian had to obey and the mind numbing boredom of paperwork.

Then she started making enquiries about becoming a tailor's apprentice and working in the merchant area of Konoha. A salary for her magically appeared, though half of it still went towards her various medical debts.

  
  
  


It became routine for Kakashi to turn up once a week after one of her clinic appointments and quietly fall into place at her side. Obito never knew exactly what day he would show up, just that he would before a week went by. Obito sometimes had nightmares about him on missions, of chasing down shadows and being chased in return. Sometimes she held lighting in her hands and drove it through barriers and bodies. Sometimes she wielded a sword. Obito could never work out how much was real memories bleeding through their shared eyes and how much was just her own fears and memories blending together. She did not speak of them to Kakashi.

It was so tempting to fall back into the habit of calling him names, trying to needle him into a reaction. But the weight of the past, of the memories she had been privy to made Obito hold her tongue. Just.   


“You're bleeding.” Obito gestured to Kakashi's shirt, more armour than clothes with its padding and plated sides. The side of it, just by his hip bone had faint marks of blood, growing darker as blood from the inside was soaked up by the material.   


Kakashi skirted away from her hand. “It's fine.”   


Obito looked at him with raised eyebrows. It had been a week since she last saw him and he was pale and unkempt. “Have you seen a medic?”   


“It's fine.” Kakashi said forcibly, a tone he had not used on her in their past meetings. His eye was dark from lack of sleep.   


Obito looked away from him, unsure of how to proceed. She had never been one to show concern for Kakashi's injuries, that had been Rin's job. The familiar ache of missing her, of wanting Rin back to play peace-keeper and caretaker went through her like a strong gust of wind.   
  
“Okay,” she said passively and let Kakashi led them on their slow walk back to the station for her shift. They took a meandering route, as always, turning down different streets and corners. This way Obito slowly re-learnt the village map, and Kakashi's paranoia of being predictable and walking into a trap was lessened.

Usually Obito filled the silence with babbling and tried to walk side by side with Kakashi. This time she let him lead the way and kept quiet, eye focused on his shirt, with the ever growing blood splotch.

After a while Kakashi stopped and turned to her, irritation easy to read. “I'm fine.”   


“I didn't say anything.”

“You don't have to, I can still hear you.”

Obito looked at his face and sighed deeply, shoulders rising and falling with her breath. “Could I please check the wound, even if you know it's fine.”

Kakashi frowned at her, impossible to read. “...alright.”

In a restaurant bathroom with Kakashi holding the door shut, Obito tentatively pulled the tacky material of his shirt up and away from the weeping cut across his hip bone.

“I've seen better stitching on a corpse.” she hissed, gently dabbing at the fresh suture stitches.

“Could you do any better?” asked Kakashi tightly, muscles bunched in discomfort. “On the move in the dark?”

“Yes, I could.” Obito finished dabbing away the blood and got out a tube of the healing cream she carried for her own scars, which still reopened on occasion. “I have done better, in prison.”

Kakashi didn't react as she smeared cream on his stitches, or when she covered the whole wound with his spare arm bandages. He only flinched when Obito got out her spare needle, already threaded.

“That's not surgical thread.” He said warningly but did not move away from her.

“It's not for the wound, it's for the shirt,” she said shortly, making a stitch into the inside of his shirt, right over the blood she could not wipe off of it. A few stitches in a simple pattern and a touch of her chakra, activated the seal and soaked the blood up into the thread.

“Can I have a blade?” she asked, as the shirt returned to it's pristine white colour and the thread turned red.   
  
By now Kakashi was twisting his neck, trying to see what she was doing. “Why don't you have a weapon on you?”

“I do but I didn't want to whip one out and upset you.”

“It's too late for that,” Kakashi told her sourly, passing her a kunai.

Gently Obito unpicked the blood soaked thread and gathered each piece. “Okay, all done.” She gave Kakashi back his kunai and went to flush the thread away. Kakashi left the bathroom without responding or looking back.

They resumed their walk in silence.

 

 

“Naomi, for the love of the Hearth Keeper: let your future husband pick some of the wedding dishes!” Obito snapped, losing patience with Naomi's latest crisis.

“But what if he chooses something no one likes!”

“You've got over 200 people coming, chances of all of them not liking one thing is slim.” Obito held up a hand to forestall her next argument. “And even if they do dislike it, I'm sure our side of the family will pretend to out of politeness.”

“Ha!” Naomi gathered up her wedding notes. “What family are you from?”

 

 

“Okay now you're just irritating me,” Obito told Kakashi, clutching at her chest in surprise. She hadn't notice him approaching her until she almost went down a street that lead to a dead-end.   


“I wanted to make sure you knew where you were going.” Kakashi said defensively, stepping back from her. It had been several walks since she had bandaged up his wound. They were more at ease with each other, Obito thought.

“How are you Kakashi?.”

“Fine.”

“...”

“…”

“...”

“How are you, Obito?” he finally asked in return.

“Well, since you asked,” Obito launched into a long description of work, how she was now teaching one of the other desk workers how to sew and went to a veteran's meeting at the centre last evening. Then she repeated all she had heard at her clinic appointment.

“And Mariko told me I need a new leg cause I'm outgrowing my current one. Which is great because they thought I might have stopped growing after everything… But it's also bad because now everyone is on my case about eating healthy.”

“What's wrong with eating healthy?”

“I just don't like people making me eat stuff. I like deciding when and where I eat.” Obito explained. She didn't go into the fact that in prison she was fed boring but nutritional food on a set schedule, with no control over any of it. Food was a way of reminding herself she had control over her life.

Kakashi nodded, hands in pockets and body language closed off as they turned onto a more busy street.

“Sometimes I eat a lot, like three meals one after the other and sometimes I just forget to eat or a day or so.” Obito shrugged nonchalantly.

“Did you eat today?”

“Yes?” Obito thought back. “I have to take the green pills with food so I ate what I think was Grandfather's fish soup...or was it left overs from yesterday's stew…?”

While Obito tried to remember her meal order Kakashi subtly herded her to a food cart. “Oh look yakitori.” he deadpanned.

Obito gave him a look, “I know what you're doing. I don't need proper food, I'm getting dango, I have enough for a whole meal of them.” she pulled out her purse. With the string-bag came two green pills. “Oh no...”

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed with purpose.

 

 

Obito took to not wearing her clan shirts when moving around the village. She justified it by saying it helped her blend in with the crowds, making her less of a target for kidnappers. She argued that the high collar got in her way, made it harder for her to see things.

The truth of the matter, that people just seemed more friendly and happy to talk to her, when she was without the Uchiwa on her back, was something she would never admit to anyone.   
  
Had being police always been this thankless, she wondered.

“Could you make a seal to hide scents.” Kakashi said out of the blue. “The opposite of the ones on the quilt?”

“Maybe. What kind of scent,” Obito asked cautiously. After ascertaining that Obito had supervision for her experiments Kakashi had shown no further interest in her studies.

“The scent of dead bodies.” Kakashi said matter-of-factly.

“You take my kind, thoughtful gesture and you think about ways to use them on dead bodies?” asked Obito mock seriously.

Kakashi got a look on his face, an uncertain 'I think you're joking with me but I am braced for pain if you're not' “Yes?”

“Cool, I'll see what I can do.” Obito said placidly and returned to her rant on the bad station coffee and how she wasn't allowed any of it.

She almost ran into Kakashi's back when he stopped suddenly. “This way,” he said turning around and looking back the way they had come.

“What?” Obito tried to lean sideways and see what was blocking the street. It was another new route to the station they were trying out, but nothing had provoked this reaction in Kakashi before, not even running into Gai.

“We need to go that way now.” Kakashi's hands came up as if he wanted to clutch at her shoulders, but he stopped himself.

Obito stood on her toes and craned her neck. Over Kakashi's scrawny shoulders she caught sight of Ichiraku's door banner blowing slightly in the wind.

“Oh,” Obito breathed through the bunch of emotion in her throat and fought down her tears. “Yeah, let's go back.” she turned around and when Kakashi fell into step next to her she reached out and gripped the armoured plates of his left glove, saying nothing.

They walked away from Ichiraku, from the place Minato-sensei had always brought his team after away missions, from the place they would always find Kushina before her own missions. Obito did not cry, though she blinked a lot and breathed hard through her nose. Slowly she calmed down and realised Kakashi hadn't pulled away from her, as he usually did. His hand had turned in her grip, and their fingers were now entwined. He didn't look at her, but that didn't stop Obito from grinning widely.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actual dealing with trauma and feelings! And Jiraiya makes a return but no one is happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place during Naruto Shippuden 351-354, during the ANBU arc when Danzo tried to get Kakashi into Root.
> 
> And thanks for the comments, they keep me going!  
> (and you are all so smart in your questions and guesses! Makes me think I'm actually writing this well!)

The days grew shorter and colder. Naomi's wedding drew closer, much to everyone but the bride's relief. Obito dug up a kimono to wear from the back of the clan's communal wardrobe and refused to do more to prepare herself for the day. She fell into a normal civilian routine which made her feel anxious and restless. She trained sparingly, met occasionally with her former classmates and waited impatiently for a letter from Jiraiya.

And in rain and shine, early or late, once a week Kakashi turned up after a clinic visit to walk her home or to work. Obito tried a number of times to talk to Kakashi about their Sharingan and bring up the fact that memories were being shared between them. She always failed, there was still such a gulf between them, of things too painful to speak of.

But that was before Obito spent a hellish night with nightmares and woke up convinced that the Third Hokage was dead, murdered before Kakashi's very eyes. Obito had spent a jumpy morning trying not to let on that she knew the village was on the brink of war, only to find out the Hokage was perfectly fine and was on one of his usual village walks, right past the station, chatting to random civilians and shinobi.

“Doesn't he have a job to do,” Osuma muttered darkly, as Sarutobi rounded the corner out of view from the station windows.

“Maybe Orochimaru is doing his paperwork already.” Sakuya said cheerfully, buttoning up her jacket for a lunch date with Sumiya, “Obito, you going out?”

“I have a late lunch break,” Obito said shakily trying to get over seeing the Hokage alive and well. What the hell had Kakashi been up to if Sarutobi was fine? Who did he see get killed instead?

When her lunch time came up, Obito used her chakra pulse technique and followed the echo. She found Kakashi by the monument, head bowed. Awkwardly Obito hung back, waiting for him to finish paying his respects. She waited for an hour, leaning against a tree, while Kakashi just stood there, the shadow of the monument slowly rising with the sun to cover him in darkness.

With little time left until the end of her lunch break, Obito gave up and walked away, resolving to try again tomorrow. That night she dreamed of Rin dying, the dying cries of a million birds around her drowning out Rin's last words. She woke up with crying, her left hand (her good undamaged hand) twitching from holding chidori in her fist. What was going on in Kakashi's head to trigger such dreams again?

  
  
  


The next day Obito sensed Kakashi's chakra in the direction of the monument again, though he was out of her range by her lunch break. It made Obito feel uneasy. Checking once more before bedtime, his chakra again came in from the direction of the monument. She told herself it was coincidence, that Kakashi was somewhere other than an empty field with the names of his loved ones upon a stone. But Obito didn't really believe herself.

The day after that Obito let herself be talked into dango for lunch, though she had a packed lunch and little money to spare. She knew which dango restaurant was the favourite for her year mates and she wanted to talk to one of them.

She ended up eating with Shito Akimichi, whom she had worked with on supply runs during the war, which was good as he would gossip about anyone given half the chance.

“Yeah, Kakashi and that monument, it's like a regular thing with him. Goes there every day he can, spends hours there. Late for everything,” Shito chewed on the empty dango stick, “He used to have the most ridiculous excuses, stopped to help an old man with a pile of wood, pull up carrots for a sick grandma… blatant lies.”

“Yeah.” Obito swallowed. “Lies.”

“He stopped doing that after a while, must have run out of excuses. But he still spends all his free time there, or sometimes in the graveyard by that Nohara girl's grave. Awkward as hell for the groundskeepers there, his dad still doesn't have an official grave.”

“Right,” Obito massaged her forehead with both hands, trying to decipher her emotions. She was sad and shocked, but also angry. At Kakashi and herself and the whole damn village. This had been going on for years and she was only hearing about it now?

“Are you okay? You don't look well.” Shito looked at her, brown eyes concerned.

“I'm fine.” Obito buried her head in her hands. “Just fine.”

  
  


When Kakashi turned up two days later to walk Obito home at dusk, Obito had a plan on how their conversation was going to go. They were going to be mature adults and talk calmly about their feelings.

They managed about 15 minutes of civil conversation before she started screaming at him.

“It's creepy okay? It's creepy and sad and- and pointless!”

“Pointless?” Kakashi had that calm tone with the edge of anger to it, as if he was a step from shouting back at her. Obito used to relish pushing him this far, from getting a reaction from the stoic genius. Now she sadly acknowledged that there was no fun to it anymore. There was no Rin or Minato to fight for the attention of.

“Well it's not doing you any good, if you've been doing this for three years with no change! And it sure as hell doesn't help the dead. They're dead Kakashi, they don't need you anymore!”

“You think I don't know that!” he finally shouted back at her, “You think I don't know they're dead and gone and I can't do a thing to change it!”

“Well if you know it's pointless why do you still go there?” Obito felt the start of angry tears and blinked frantically. “What is the point?”

“The point is to remember! Remember they're dead and it's my fault and I need to be better!” Kakashi's eye was wide and wild, his hand coming up to cup his still covered left eye. “You gave me this eye to protect them and I failed. I screwed up and I need to be better-”

Obito took a breath, got control of her voice and asked quietly, “Why do you think it's your fault?”

“I killed Rin, Obito, I killed her and I couldn't get to Minato and Kushina and I-,” he pushed away his headband, “I should have known you were alive. I saw things, things happening you and I was so scared they would make me stop working, make me quit that I just ignored it.”

Tears started leaking from Obito's eyes. All three of them. It was scary seeing the Sharingan on Kakashi's face tear-up, but less scary than considering that Kakashi Hatake was crying over her.

“I...I'm not crying cause I'm sad.” She sobbed, roughly wiping her cheeks. Kakashi stood before her, shoulders heaving and did not wipe his weeping eye. “These, these are angry tears. I'm furious at you. For thinking you need to punish yourself for things that aren’t your fault.”

Kakashi flinched like she had struck him.

“I am so mad at you, do you really think Minato and Rin and Kushina would hate you for surviving, for living a good life? Minato and Kushina gave their lives so the village could live, that includes you. And Rin, Rin knew what she was doing. She loved you.”

Kakashi tried to interrupt. Obito raised a hand towards his face. “Be quiet and let me say this. Rin, Minato and Kushina- they loved you. They really, really loved you. And I think they loved me too, but maybe not as much.”

“They did love you.” Kakashi said quietly. "Just as much."

“Okay. But I...I miss them too. I miss them so much and I wish so hard they could be here and I know you do to.” Sobs were threatening to overcome her voice, it became harder to speak calmly. “And- and if going to the monument makes you feel closer to them, then that’s fine. But if you're doing it to punish yourself, for things that aren’t your fault. I want you to stop.” She took a ragged breath, then another. Her voice firmed up. “I need you to take care of yourself. Rin and Minato, they would be so disappointed with me if I let you keep hurting yourself.”

Kakashi's eye had stopped crying completely, his original one still guilt stricken.

“But I knew you were alive-”

“No you didn't.” Obito interrupted, her heart throbbing, “If it's like how I see your stuff then… Then you saw fleeting images and dreams, nothing concrete, nothing certain. I had no idea where I was until I got out. And- and there was no way you could have convinced anyone you were really seeing through my eye. You'd have just been labelled insane, kept from missions, from doing your duty...”

“But Ri-”

“I know you didn't want to kill her! I saw it, like you saw me in prison. I know what happened. It's not your fault!” Obito shouted as loud as her throat could manage through her sobs.

Kakashi seemed stricken, like she'd denied the truth of his universe.

“I don't know how to get this through your thick skull. It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. You are not to blame. I don't hate you, I've never hated you. I'm glad you're alive and I want you to live and fight and continue to do good. Is that so hard for you to understand? You...stupid Kakashi.” Her voice failed her then, as her sobs became too strong to hold back.

Kakashi breathed. Obito sobbed, losing the fight against her crying. She brought up her hands to her face and sobbed into them, barely managing to keep her heaving breaths muffled. Abruptly she realised her own Sharingan was on, having activated sometime during her rant. It was still disorientating to see the world though one Sharingan and one inactivated eye. She looked over at Kakashi, still and silent before her, both his eyes still uncovered. His Sharingan was spinning lazily as if it was copying her splotchy tear covered face.

Obito took a deep breath, choked on a sob and tried again to breath calmly. She closed her eyes and tried to turn off her eye. She couldn't do either. She opened her eyes and got the weird double vision, seeing herself through Kakashi's eyes. Her tears ran down her cheeks in uneven lines, getting caught in her scars. Wisps of her hair were out of her clips and her lips pursed together to hold back her sobs, making them redden.

A tentative hand reached out to touch her sleeve. Kakashi looked lost, side of his mask still wet from tears. “You know what happened,” he said very softly, pinching her shirt sleeve gently, like a child hesitant to get their mother's attention. “You don't hate me.” It was a question.

Obito looking into her own spinning Sharingan. She took a deep breath, then another. She reached up, almost to cup Kakashi's cheek, resting her fingers on the very top of his mask. “I don't hate you Kakashi.” she softly repeated, looking into his eyes.

She turned off her Sharingan. Across from her, grazing right back into her face, Kakashi's Sharingan faded back into black as well.

There was a beat of silence

“Oh shit.”   
  
  
  


A fit of panicking, whispered accusations and more tears later, Kakashi's eye was reactivated, courtesy of Obito forcibly pushing her chakra into it and yelling at it to “fucking activate already.” Kakashi helped by threatening to break into the Hokage's secret library again and look through medic reports on bloodline transplants.

“Figures you'd only turn to medicine when your ability to carry out your duties is threatened,” Obito muttered when they had both calmed down and were sitting on a fallen tree trunk.

“What else do I really have to worry about.” Kakashi asked stoically, emotions apparently used up for the day.

“Me.” Obito said simply, looking down at the ground. “You can worry about me.”

Kakashi was quiet for a while. Then tentatively he put his hand over hers in her lap. “Okay.”

They sat in quiet for a while, as dusk turned to night.

“Don't you have to be home in the next ten minutes?”

“Damn."   
  
  
  


After an uncomfortable week or two getting back to a more stable atmosphere with each other Obito and Kakashi did actually start working on trying to control their mixing dreams. They went to one of the smaller training fields near the clinic at dawn to try some technique. Meditation, which Obito hated, and chakra control exercises, which Kakashi had mastered at four and hated, helped. There were no more accidental sharing of vision, though Obito still got brushes of Kakashi's more intense missions.

“It's nice to have a bit of excitement in my life, actually,” she said of it casually, fussing over Urushi new injury, while he hammed it up. Kakashi, both eyes uncovered and throwing kunai with the Sharingan off, just huffed at his dog's playacting. He had literally escaped from hospital to meet Obito and she had forborne chakra use of any kind. “And it's not like I can tell anyone anyway.” That would mean admitting she had a second Sharingan which would result in even more questions and probably end up with her back under house arrest.

It gave Obito a deep surge of satisfaction to be able to reach out and turn off Kakashi's eye, though he found it unnerving and made her turn it back on before they separated. Even just two hours of rest gave his chakra stores a bit of time to restore. Obito was making notes and plans for a seal with her own chakra to power it in an emergency, but she wanted Jiraiya's direct input before she tried anything. He was due back in Konoha in the next three weeks and Obito could barely manage her mounting excitement over news of Aimi.

 

 

The first sign something was going on among the village higher-ups was when an ANBU operative appeared unannounced in the station waiting room and demanded all the missing persons reports for the last 10 years.

“Why, are you taking over those duties as well?” demanded Osuma, coming up to glare straight into the dragon mask.

He and Obito stalled for several minutes, before Obito reluctantly got up to get the reports. She limped theatrically into to the records office, where the other four Sharingan possessors of the station were frantically reading and copying the missing reports.

“Why?” she mouthed at them.

One just shrugged back and motioned for her to stall longer.

Obito sighed and fell to the floor loudly, knocking over a random pile of scrap paper as she went down. “Oh no! I dropped them, one more minute please ANBU-san.”

By the time she slowly got up and gathered the scattered papers, the missing reports were neatly stacked and quickly passed into her hands. She limped back to the waiting ANBU. “Sorry I took so long, ANBU-san,” she said cheerfully, passing over the documents. “Oh I like your shuriken, I didn't know they grew that big!”

The ANBU left with a word.

“Rude.”

 

 

A few hours later the news spread that Orochimaru had fled the village, evidence of years of illegal experiments discovered in his wake. Between dealing with irate civilians demanding to know how the police could let something like this happen and refusing requests for the missing reports by various shinobi groups intent on getting some answers, Obito felt exhausted.

That night the whole day shift walked home together, the atmosphere on the streets tense and oppressive. A man within weeks of becoming Hokage was found to be a law breaker and monster. Kamo was gone, summoned to look over the grisly remains found in Orochimaru's labs. Obito went to Izanami for dinner.

Obito found herself dozing in a quiet corner after the meal, a sleeping toddler dropped in her lap and another child leaning against her uninjured side, drawing monsters with crayon. Obito dreamt of people made of smoke and a boy who grew trees. She dreamed of Orochimaru and his deadly presence, all pretense of tolerance removed from his manner. She dreamt of caves and tunnels and even knowing she was dreaming, trembled at the thought of being underground again.

She dreamed of Kakashi, tall and proud, clad in the armour of an ANBU operative. “I won't waver this time. I'll look into your eyes till the very end and bring you down!” He gathered lightning in his fist and charged the sannin.

“You look good like that.” Izanami said quietly, when Obito woke from her doze to find herself covered in sleeping children. Izanami was straightening out the living room, getting ready to make up beds for her guests.

Obito resisted the urge to fling a sleeping 4-year-old at her aunt.

“Is Kamo home yet?”

“He's sleeping at Daiki's,” Izanami collected a pillow off the floor, “He gets tired so easily these days.”

“It's my fault.” Obito admitted, thinking of all the work he had done for her, organising escorts, helping her train and finally giving her his eye. Surgery at his age, surgery he had to hide from the family, was not something easily recovered from.

“He's more happy than he's been in a long time.” Izanami rolled out a futon. “And that is most certainly your fault.”

Obito smiled, shifting the child in her arms slightly. “I still can't believe I'm the only one to survive. Great-grandfather had twelve children, fifteen grandchildren. It seems wrong that I'm his only great-grandchild to live.”

“That line was always a reckless one.” Izanami said taking the child from Obito's side and putting him down on the futon. “All bold and fearless, more berserker than strategist. Once they got an idea in their heads there was no stopping them. Your father was the only one of them that wanted to do something other than be a shinobi.” She took the child from Obito's arms and put him next to her youngest son. “You take after our side of the family.”

“Yeah?”

“You're a nurturer.”

“Auntie my specialities were fire jutsu and hand to hand combat. Sometimes the only things that get me up in the morning is spitefulness and wanting to beat sense into people.”

“No one ever said nurturing was nice.” Izanami tucked the children in with soft kisses on the head. “It's a thankless, endless slog. But it's worth it in the end.”

 

 

Kakashi turned up the next morning, soon after she stepped out of the clinic. He had bandaged injuries and low chakra. When Obito reached out to try and deactivate his Sharingan, he grabbed her hand, looked all around for witnesses and dragged her into a quiet corner.

“You can't go anywhere by yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because of Orochimaru. He told me he didn't want a fake.”

“A fake what?” Obito was slightly scared at the urgency of Kakashi's voice.

Kakashi tapped his slanted forehead band. Obito blanched.

“You should stay home a few days.”

“No. No way. It's wedding central over there. Everyone who sees me either wants me to sew something for them or know when it going to be my turn to marry,” Obito shuddered at the thought. “Besides aren't I safer, now that we know what a creep Orochimaru was? I mean Jiraiya was going to send me to him for seal training.”

Kakashi stopped moving. He even stopped breathing.

“Kakashi? He didn't, I never went near him. I'm fine, I'm fine. Come on now.” She took his hands and stepped into his space. “Breath with me. Breath in. And out. And in-”

For long minutes they breathed together until Kakashi pulled out of her grasp, avoiding her eyes.

“I wonder how Jiraiya is dealing with the news.” Obito mused. “Maybe I should write to him.”

“He seemed fine when I saw him.” Kakashi fiddled with the edge of his mask.

“When did you see him?”

“Half an hour ago, in the Orchard and Spider...”

Obito looked at him for a second, “Jiraiya is in the village?”

“He got in last night.”

“And went straight to a brothel.”

“Well he had a long meeting at the tower first.”

“So you saw him in a brothel at 9 in the morning and you think he seemed fine?”

“...yes?”

Obito pulled a face and marched out of the corner towards the station. Kakashi lurked in the shadows, unsure what to do next. A few minutes later, Obito returned, her Uchiha shirt replaced by a more anonymous dark brown jacket. “Are you coming or what?” she demanded as she walked past him.

  
  
  


Jiraiya was on his fourth, maybe the fifth bottle when Minato's brats sat down on either side of him at the table. The lovely ladies giving him a backrub stopped until he waved a hand at them and they carried on.

After a while the sense of killing intent penetrated his drunken fog. Surprisingly it wasn't Dog Brat, he was busy glaring at the door-guard. It was Orange Brat who was glaring at him. “What?” he asked her.

“You seem confused. That's because this place is a brothel, not the training field where we agreed to met in your last letter” She gave him a disapproving look, too much like Kushina's too bare.

“Go away brats, I'm in no mood to babysit today.”

“Fine I'll talk to someone else.” Obito's voice went from harsh to bright and bubbly, “Hi Aya! How are the kids?”

“They're alright, Uchiha-san. Tenchi wants to be an electrician of all things. Where I'll get the money to apprentice him to anyone I don't know,” The girl massaging his right shoulder, who he had been getting very familiar with before the brats turned up, responded happily to Obito's question.

“You might qualify for a sponsorship, your husband died on a Konoha commissioned job didn't he?”

“Yes, but I already got a life insurance payout two years ago, could I still ask for anything else?”

“You should be getting monthly welfare, not one lump sum. That sounds fishy. Here,” Obito scribbled an address on a napkin and passed it over to Aya. “This office is really good at sorting out shinobi-related finances.”

“Thanks. Do you and your friend want any drinks?”

“They're under-age,” interrupted Jiraiya crossly. “And you told me your name was Sugar Plum.”

“That's my second name.” She said undeterred. “And shinobi can drink at any age. How about it handsome?”

Kakashi, mask in it's usual place gave her a raised eyebrow. Jiraiya was about to order him and Obito out when the door guard came over.

“Your ten minute are up.” He crowded into Obito's space. “Scram girly.”

Kakashi was standing and lunging forward as Obito started back, bumping into Jiraiya's side. On his other side, Jiraiya grabbed Kakashi's wrist and pinned it down to the table before he could push the guard back. The second girl fled as Aya tried to explain, “But, she's just telling me where my kid can get a job.”

“She's a friendly girl.” agreed Jiraiya.

“She can be friendly somewhere else,” His hand came down onto Obito's bad shoulder. Kakashi was aiming a kick at him just as Obito broke the guard's nose with her palm.

  
  
  
  


The ensuing chaos resulted in all three sitting on a pavement a few streets away, covered in cheap booze and table splinters. Jiraiya clutched the two bottles he'd managed to save and his empty wallet. Obito was demonstrating how her waterproof seal let the cheap wine just slid off her skirt. And Kakashi was trying to get his mask dry without taking it off.

“Brats.” Jiraiya growled into his open bottle.

“Drunken pervert.” Growled Obito back at him, trying to squeeze wine from her hair.

“Interfering girl!”

“It's payback, you arrogant bastard!”

“...wait, what?” Jiraiya pulled away from the bottle for a second, trying to understand her argument.

“You interfered with me, when I found out about our team – so now it's my turn to help you.” Obito smiled like she'd won.

“That- that's not how it works.”

“Why not?”

“Because my teammates aren’t dead, they're just traitors!” Jiraiya yelled, surprising himself at his reaction. He went back to drinking to cover his outburst.

Obito looked at him, taken back slightly. “That doesn't mean you're not hurting about it.”

Jiraiya snorted. “Yes it does! He was a quiet, creepy, immortality obsessed weirdo and I knew this would happen. I should have known he'd do something like this. I should have been here to stop him.” Jiraiya told himself he sounded resigned and calm. Not plaintive, not heartbroken. He was fine.

The brats were quiet next to him. Obito scratched in the dirt with a finger. Kakashi crossed his arms to block off any feelings that might hit. It was like they were ten again and Jiraiya was babysitting while Minato fumbled around with Kushina.

“Orochimaru was breaking laws and experimenting on people for years. Someone should have seen it. Someone should have reported it. No one did. No one wanted to admit what he had become.” Kakashi said quietly.

Obito looked up from the dirt. “Didn't he have students?”

“One. She's been committed to the psych ward. She tried to cut a seal out of her shoulder when she heard the news. We think she didn't know he was acting without the Hokage's full support.”

Obito pocked Jiraiya in the arm. “So shouldn't you be talking to her now, not drinking until your guts pickle?”

Jiraiya kept drinking, tilting the bottle upside down to get at the last drops. “Not my problem, I gotta be in Ishigakure by tomorrow.”

“You've got less than a day left in Konoha and you choose to spend them getting drunk with working girls?”

“Yes.”

Obito drove an elbow at his kidney. Jiraiya caught it without looking down. When she tried to follow up with a punch from the other arm, Jiraiya hauled her over his lap by her caught elbow, dumping her on his other side next to Kakashi. “Don't push me Brat.” he warned.

Kakashi put a restraining arm over Obito's shoulder, but gave Jiraiya a look that promised violence if he touched her again. Jiraiya held his glare. In a few years, if Dog Brat kept growing and learning, if he didn't let the tide of ANBU and endless blood sweep him under; he might be Jiraiya's match in a fight. But that was a long time away.

Obito next to him was finally still, sitting passively against Kakashi's side. If Orange Brat hadn't been squashed, if she was still fighting fit, she could have been his apprentice, one of Minato's legacies kept safe at his side. His thoughts turned to another sannin with an apprentice taken in out of duty to a lost loved one.

Jiraiya firmly ended that trail of thought by opening his last bottle and drinking deeply. The brats leaned away for him, having a silent conversation together. Orange Brat seemed unaware of the arm still around her bad shoulder, as if there was no pain when Dog Brat was doing the holding. Jiraiya did not think about his past, another quiet awkward genius, trailing after a loud mouthed windbag whose heart was going to be repeatedly crushed by the world. He wasn't looking at his childhood, seeing a white haired boy in love with a teammate who had no idea of his feelings for her. This wasn't his story being played out again next to him, Jiraiya told himself.

Obito finally spoke again. “I gotta report in, my time is almost up.” Kakashi moved his arm from around her shoulder and scuffled back. Obito stood and looked down at Jiraiya. “I'm sorry for your loss.”

“I'm better off without him.” he said gruffly.

“I'm still sorry. I'll write to you soon.”

“Oh. Got a letter for you. From your girlfriend.” He pulled the flimsy thing from a pocket.

Obito squealed, kissed him on the forehead, snatched the letter and ran off. Jiraiya was left with one brat, who was now glaring at him. “What?” he demanded as Obito awkwardly walked past them again, having gone the wrong way. “You wanna say something?”

“Why did you never offer to teach me seals?” Kakashi demanded conflicting emotions all over his sixteen-year-old face.

Jiraiya looked at him. “You have ten years combat experience, a Sharingan and invented an assassin technique that kills three with one blow. Why do you need to learn seals?”

Kakashi shrugged and looked down the road at the distant figure of Obito, now gesturing widely to a shopkeeper.

“Oh no, kid. You don't want to walk down that road,” Jiraiya waved dismissively. “Teammates make the worse lays.”

Kakashi stood up, cold dignity in every line of his body. “I have to go now. We still have more of your teammates victims to humanely destroy.”

He stalked off. Jiraiya hated himself a little bit more.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various Uchiha bare their troubles and hearts to Obito. She would much rather they didn't do this and wonders how she became the clan's emotional stress ball.  
> Also one plot line is sewn up, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love your comments so much, please keep them coming.  
> Now Betaed by the wonderful YuliaLeafhill, because dreams do come true.  
> Contact me on tumblr under jemsquash

Obito got home after her shift, the letter still unopened. She had worked through her lunch break, in order to go home early and give all her attention to Aimi's letter. All day her thoughts had returned to her old cellmate. Was she okay, did she make it to Suna, return to the ranks of the Puppeteer Corpse? Aimi had not been as physically damaged as Obito had on her capture, but her time in prison had been much worse. Dark pretty Aimi had not had a bloodline the medics had wanted preserved and untainted.

Obito found Shisui sitting at her front door, curled up around a watering can. "Shisui?" she asked reluctantly, hoping she could get rid of him, "Do you want something?"

Shisui looked up at her, his face was white, eyes red from crying. There was sick around his mouth and Obito already knew her grandfather's watering can would have to be scrubbed clean. Shisui's mouth opened and closed, the blather mouth of the Uchiha voiceless.

"What happened?" She pulled out a tissue for Shisui and got her front door open. Her grandfather's work shoes were back in their usual place.

"I was fine really, I just dropped of Kamo and was gonna go home but I-" Shisu covered his mouth with the tissue. "There were so many bodies, and at first it was fine. I've seen dead bodies, I've buried dead bodies. It's nothing." Shisui looked up at Obito and let his horror bleed into his words, "But some of them were so fresh and they looked so wrong. Limbs replaced by roots and animal parts, injuries that should have killed them healing over, but all wrong. Like slow methodical torture. The bodies in the tanks… the medics say if we had got to them just a day sooner,” his eyes were haunted, “Some of them could have been saved."

"Shhh," Obito pulled him up into the house and her arms, fitting him easily against her chest, unconcerned with the dried sick. "Oh my brave Shisui, my little cousin," gently she closed the door behind them and let them both collapse on the hallway step, "Shhh, it's over now sweetheart. It's all gone away.

  
“That's the worst part,” Shisui sobbed into her jacket. “It's not over. They think Orochimaru did this for years, they were finding more labs and bodies when I went off duty. I'll have to go back tomorrow and do it all over again. Take pictures of the crime scenes before they move things, help the medics take samples.”

"Does it have to be you? Can't someone else, someone older do it?” Obito asked holding him tighter, rocking them both.

“No. I'm the only Uchiha there as an active shinobi, the others are only allowed to look over the medic reports, not on the scene work.”

“Fuck." Obito kept rocking him slowly, rubbing his back as she frantically tried to think of a solution.

Shisui raised his head. “It’s fine, I'll be fine. I know what to expect now.” He tried half-heartedly to get out of her embrace. “I just wish I had known, I could have stopped it!”

“Hey." Obito let him pull away so she could look him in the eye, "It's not your fault. You had no responsibility for Orochimaru. There are hundreds of others probably thinking the same thought right now. But you're only one person Shisui, you couldn't have stopped this.”

Shisui nodded slowly, lowering his head back into Obito's shoulder, “Hey Obi – why do you smell like a bar?”

  
  
  


Obito talked with Shisui until he was calm enough to go wash his face and rinse his mouth. She got out some prepared meals in the fridge and cleaned the watering can of vomit. When she checked on him Shisui was curled up on her bed, his summons cuddled around him.

She gave the nearest cat a look, “So...I should let Mai know you won't be home for dinner?”

Shisui waved a hand, not lifting his head from the bed. A short-haired tabby got up and went to the window, and mewed imperially until Obito opened it and let the cat slip out towards the home Shisui shared with his elder sister.

Obito sighed and sat down next to Shisui, putting out a cautious hand to pet a fluffy white cat at his back. It pushed against her hand purring for a bit as she scratched its chin. Then it bit her without warning.

“Ow! Why?” Obito demanded of it. It blinked at her then closed its eyes and went to sleep. Obito glared at it, then retreated to her bathroom.

Seated on her shower chair, Obito read Aimi's letter. It was on thin blueprint paper, the type used for designers and mechanics. The writing was the clear penmanship of a draughtsman.

  
_Darling,_  


_I am well._

_  
_ _I am well and safe and with my brethren. The corpse welcomed me back with open arms, as I knew they would, after much play-acting by the Kazekage about my fate. I had no fear. The war left our coffers and ranks low and I have the talents of my mother. Her puppets are mine now, by right of blood and combat and I will endeavour to be worthy of them._

  
Seven pages from Aimi, describing in loving detail her puppets, her new home, her work space. A bare paragraph about her initial reception and subsequent year in detention, waiting on the Kazekage's decision of her fate. And at the end Aimi candidly wrote she had taken up her old relationship with the wood sculptor apprentice, now a master in her own right. The prose turned steamy, describing their reunion in graphic detail. Aimi was clearly back to her vivacious self if she was comfortable writing about such things. 

Obito fanned herself with the pages, a bit lost. Aimi had agreed to end things, so unlikely that they're ever see each other again. But she was kinda miffed Aimi had taken up with someone else so soon. They had been so close, she had spent so much time with the beautiful women. It wasn't heartbreak exactly, but it stung to be replaced, even after a year apart.

The letter ended with the address of an outpost station that Aimi's lover often went to for lumber supplies. Obito could right back at her leisure, no need to bother the strange writer Obito had hired to find her.

Obito blinked at that, how did anyone take Jiraiya to be anything but a high-level shinobi, even in disguise? She sighed and turned back to the long description of Aimi's reunion with her lover ending in a tryst right there on the workbench. It had been an emotional day, she deserved a little treat. She got out of the shower, activated the silencing seal, turned on the water and slowly reread the steamer part of the letter. If the seal failed and Shisui heard anything, she could bribe him and the cats into silence with fish.

  
  


Shisui was asleep when Obito came out, not stirring when she hunted through her cupboard for something clean to wear. She would have been worried about his lack of alertness if the cats weren't still around, staring at her in silent judgment. Obito dressed, then moved the cat sitting on a pile of fresh laundry, put the laundry and all her mending work in the cupboard for safety and went to the kitchen. Kamo was there in his own lounging clothing, reheating something on a stove. He pointed at Shisui's shoes sitting by the door in confusion.

“He didn't want to go home.” Obito explained softly, coming up to hug her tired looking grandfather. “How are you.”

“Too tired to feel anything, thank goodness,” Kamo said just as softly. “Tell me about your day, let me hear something happy.”

Obito made tea and rice, talking brightly about work and her seal studies, the people she met at her clinic appointments and veteran meetings. She talked about work, about her sewing projects, the things she saw on her walks. Kamo slowly ate his meal and drank several cups of tea, his eyes a little less dim.

“We must go to our bakery again soon,” Kamo said, “I feel like I never see you anymore, what with your work and appointments.”

“It's a busy life I lead now,” Obito squeezed his hand. “All thanks to you.”

“And you're happy now, living this life?” Kamo asked, concerned.

Obito thought for a bit. She still missed her old life as a shinobi, of being an asset to the clan and village. But she had her limited freedom, her family and friends. She had her work, boring and exhausting by turns and all her lovely medical aids and drugs. She had Kakashi and two Sharingan and Aimi was safe.

“Yes I am,” She told him smiling. “Very happy.”

“At least someone in this village is,” Kamo sighed. “The fallout from Orochimaru's actions will leave deep scars on the village.”

“Are there really so many victims to his experiments? I heard rumours that a hundred bodies have been found.”

“Not bodies, parts of bodies for the most part and notes that hint to more labs throughout the country.” Kamo sighed, “I wished for more work and I have been granted my wish in the worst way.”

“Can't someone else accompany you? Shisui isn't taking it well.”

“He's the only one with active clearance at the level needed.”

“That can't be right Inabi or Watari have-”

“They all have B-rank with provisional exceptions. My A-level clearance is just too old to redact and Shisui serves as a Hokage guard on occasion. Everyone else doesn't need it with the war ended.” Kamo looked darkly out the window. “Pray it doesn't come to war, Orochimaru stole people without concern for their importance or allegiances. Many families will demanded justice.”

“Good for them.”

“No. Bad for the village, we're still suffering loss in the ranks from the attack.” Kamo looked at her, “Keep your weapons sharp outside of home, if you have seals of defence and protection, now is the time to carry them with you always.”

Obito hunched one shoulder. “We'll be under attack?”

“Our defences will be tested, weaknesses probed at. Orochimaru knew so much of our structure and secrets. Everything will have to be changed. Don't allow yourself to be taken in the confusion.”

Obito smiled thinly. “Let them come.”

  
  
  
Shisui ended up staying the night, tugged out of Obito's bed and put in a spare futon in the study. Obito was not giving up her special back pillow for anyone, even traumatised little cousins. She was woken up before dawn by a toad sticking a tongue up her nose. Obito gasped and punched at it, making it disappear into mist. Jiraiya, peering over her latest notebook at her work desk, looked up. “Your wards are terrible, we need to redo them.”

Reaching for the axe down the side of her bed, Obito sat up. Jiraiya had brighter eyes and seemed sober, dressed for long term travel. But Obito was still going to throw him out unless he had come to redeem himself.

“I have an hour before I set out,” Jiraiya threw her book at her, “Show me what you can do.”

A gruelling hour was spent by Obito under Jiraiya's critical eye. Her seal notes were ripped up, crossed out, occasionally nodded at. About half her sewn seal designs were deemed worthless, most of the rest too complex for now, and a tiny few interesting.

Obito felt like her head had been ripped open and stuffed with new info. She had about a dozen illuminating moments when things she had struggled with for months suddenly became clear. Her chakra storage seal, made with the idea of powering Kakashi's Sharingan with her own stored chakra in an emergency, was given a nod after several adjustments.

“All right.” Jiraiya handed over the pages he had been making notes on for the whole lesson. “Here's what I want you to study and relearn. After that you focus on these seals for at least a 100 hours,” Obito opened her mouth to argue, “Not negotiable brat, you have to be able to get the seals perfect every time. This is dangerous stuff you're working with and you've gotten close to disaster a few times.” He pulled out a storage seal and activated it, making a pile of new books and scrolls appear, overflowing over the desk, “And when you've done that you can start digging through these.”

“Is this from Whirlpool?” She asked, picking up one that had fallen to the floor.

“That one originally yes, but all of these were all found in Oro-, in the labs,” Jiraiya smiled thinly. Obito dropped the scroll, “I won't have time for the next couple of months to really study them, but you should be alright to look through them and see if you can pick up anything.”

“Shouldn't this be kept somewhere safer, isn't there important information to be learnt from it?” Obito asked in concern. “What if there are clues to what Orochimaru will do now, or what he did before?”

“It's all been gone over by several experts from different village department, the ANBU were going to destroy them when I came upon one of them taking the scrolls away,” Jiraiya forced another smile. “I thought you could see if any good could come of these texts.”  
  
Obito swallowed and reluctantly picked up another scroll, looking at the title. “A Jinchuriki?”

“You know about them?” Jiraiya's eyes were suddenly more focused than she had ever seen them.

She bit her lip. “There was one in the Iwa prison with us. Part prisoner, park jailer. The day he went psycho... we escaped in the chaos." She didn't think of Mikoto and Kushina, what she saw from the top of a millipede summons years ago during war. Every clan had to have their secrets. "It's an awful thing to do to a human. A Living Human Sacrifice, more like eternal torment.” Obito frowned at the diagram on the top of the scroll. “Looks really complicated too.”

“It's an extremely advanced seal.” Jiraiya looked at her searchingly, “You haven't heard that word recently?”

Obito screwed up her eyes, thinking hard “...Noooo?”

“Well, alright then.” Jiraiya gently took the scroll she held and put it in a pocket. “I have ten minutes more. Watch closely, I'm going to put a new set of seals on your door and you can recreate them on the windows.”

  
  
  


Time past. Konoha remained on high alert and tense for several days, then slowly relaxed back into normality. Obito saw Kakashi rarely and briefly, just long enough to shove food at him and convince him to let her deactivate his Sharingan for a few hours of sleep. He was on the go consistently, between missions, guard duty and retraining. Passwords and protocol had to be changed, secret routes and tunnels remade. And while this went on Konoha had to carry out its usual mission quota as if nothing were wrong.

The police force adjusted quickly to the changes, excellent memories belonging to all Uchiha with or without a Sharingan. Eventually the police force took possession of the bodies and remains from Orochimaru's labs, returning what they could to their families. It was not a pleasant job but they did it willingly enough.

“Aren’t you glad we cremate everything when we die?” asked Osuma smugly returning from the delivery of several bodies to the Inuzuka clan.

“More like relieved.” Obito admitted. She had yet to look at the scrolls Jiraiya had given her and wasn't keen to either. Some of the things she glimpsed as her family moved the bodies were worse than what she had seen in war and prison.

  
  
  


"That's not what you're wearing, is it?" demanded Naomi’s mother when Obito walked into the pre-wedding gathering, hours before the ceremony.

"Yes?" Obito asked looking down at her dark blue kimono. "I just need help with the obi," she waved the orange fabric in her hand weakly.

Sanko stared at her. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded.

"Do you want my full medical report or do you mean in general," Obito said defensively, as others gathered to listen to the confrontation.

"The one day you're encouraged to wear bright colours and you wear that? It looks like a funeral robe."

"Told you she'd mess up," someone whispered triumphantly.

"And what are those sleeves, you wear furisode to a wedding! Furisode!"

"I have one leg women, I can't manage trailing sleeves and all the robes!" Obito felt her face go red as Naomi's sister and aunt smirked at her discomfort. It wasn't that big a deal, really

"It's such an old robe, what is the pattern? Dandelions?" another voice from the crowd added.

"They are stars! Shooting stars and constellations and I thought it would be romantic and fitted with the clan colours!"

"Is that Obito?" Sakuya poked her head through the crowd. "I'm so glad you're on time! Naomi found a tear in her third outfit and she is freaking out." She elbowed people out of her way, ignoring the judging looks to the formal police uniform she had chosen to wear.

Chiaki followed Sakuya, purple sleeves of her furisode trailing behind her. "I love the gold embroidery, did you do it yourself?"

"I just restitched a few loose threads, it's mostly original..." Obito was a bit thrown by the sudden change in reception. The younger women were acting like she was a godsend, Naomi's mother and family, like an interloper.

"Wow, that's amazing, after Naomi do you think you could resew this button, it feels like it’s about to come loose....  
  
  


 

Obito spent the time before the wedding sewing and fixing various outfits and things: Naomi's 3 outfits consisting of various kimono; a hair band, a jacket and scarf. As she sat and sewed, around her the clan primped and made themselves up. Someone did her hair, using fire jutsu and tongs to get it straight, someone else tied her obi while she stood and sewed up the collar of a dress while it was being worn. Sakuya emerged to shoo people away and do her make-up.

"Orange eye-shadow, just this once," she whispered, applying base to her face and neck.

"What the hell was up with Naomi’s part of family?" whispered back Obito, setting down her work for Sakuya to do her face. "I thought they were going to throw me out.”

Sakuya clicked her tongue in disgust. "That wasn't about you, that was about Mom. Sanko thought she’d be free of her granddaughter now that Naomi is marrying, but Naomi doesn't want to spring her kid on her new husband all at once. Sanko threw a fit and refused to keep poor Fuji-chan any longer. So Naomi asked Mom to foster Fuji and Mom agreed.

Obito nodded, and got an eye pencil in the eye. "OW! So why turn on me? Sanko's getting what she wants."

"Apparently she reconsidered when she realised the month payments Naomi gives her for Fuji would start going to Mom. But Naomi told her it was too late, Fuji had already been told. Little girl is living with us from tonight." Sakuya leaned back and considered Obito's makeup. "Sure you don't want a genjutsu on the scars?"

"Sure. So Auntie Izanami is going to have- what four pre-academy kids in the house?"

"Abuto starts class next term. But yeah, full house at the moment. Makes it easier for me to sneak out and see Sumiya, though."

"You need to tell her Sakuya, your mom will be more upset the longer you wait." Obito went back to her sewing, "Maybe tell her you like girls, just to prepare her for Sumiya?"

"I've seen what she's like with you, the second I show an interest in anyone she's gonna get all excited and start planning my wedding." Sakuya sighed, "I get she never got one and she always wanted to plan a wedding but I just don't want to deal with all of that. Anyway you're one to talk, with your all your little dates.”

“I'm not dating anyone,” Obito told her in confusion, glancing up quickly from the lace she was repairing.

“I've seen you disappearing in the mornings and after work. You always have a weird smile on your face when you come back. I know you don't have as many vet meetings and clinic visits as you claim.”

“I'm not seeing anyone. I'm just meeting up with old comrades from the war.” Obito half lied.

“Why? What do you still have in common with them?” Sakuya demanded, making up her own face.

“Lots! Memories and food and gossiping-" And seals and feelings and a shared set of Sharingan, she didn't say. Kakashi was still a forbidden topic in the compound.

"Okay fine, you're living a safe boring little life with no secret lover. But make life easy for me, settle down with an Uchiha who can give you kids, that'll make it easier for me to tell Mom about my secret lover.” Sakuya laughed, not looking away from the mirror.

Obito smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

  
  
  


Naomi was successfully married at the shrine, the groom clad in a new kimono with Uchiwa proudly embossed on the back and front. That had been Obito's work, as was Naomi's second outfit of festive red replacing her white Uchikake. The groom’s family seemed lost in the sea of Uchiha gathered in the reception hall. Obito sidled up to them and made small talk about her sewing. They were silk merchants mainly and glad to talk on a subject they understood.

When the dinner was started Obito found her seat with Kamo and some older family members.

“Nice chat?” Kamo asked as she sat down across from him.

“Fascinating. Did you know silk weavers can send messages in their fabrics by how they weave the silk,” said Obito, nodding at Yakumi and Sora, Kamo’s contemporaries within the clan. "And Snow has a type of wool they get from rabbits, can you imagine?” She fell into her food, unusually hungry after a busy morning.

“You look lovely today,” Yakumi told her, just as she had taken a big mouthful. The police sergeant had the deep eye lines much of their family had and looked older this years.

She awkwardly chewed and swallowed quickly.  “Really? I haven't even looked at myself, too busy.”

“Oh, I'm sure you have, young thing like you must have loved getting all dressed up.” Yakumi looked at her seriously.

“It seemed to take an awful long time, just to look nice.” Obito took a smaller bite.

“And that kimono is lovely," He put a hand on Obito's arm and stroked the fabric. “Such a strong colour.”

Obito pulled her arm away. Kamo in conversation with his seat neighbour, looked at her. She shook her head and smiled, and he went back to his conversation.

Yakumi continued undeterred, “And that clip in your hair - so beautiful, just like you.”

“I have something in my hair?” Obito reached up to feel something metal and sharp holding her hair up in it’s fancy bun.

“Hah hah," He put his hand over Obito's on the table, "You are so funny, I always liked that about you.”

“Okay..." Obito pulled away her hand and looked around for a distraction. She was not getting hit on by a 30 year old divorcee, she wasn't.

Yakumi turned to make conversation with the person across from him, and Obito relaxed when he made no more attempts to touch her. It was all in her head. She made small talk with those around her and tried to enjoy herself.

When the seventh course finally arrived and Obito miraculously hadn't spilt a thing on her outfit, the situation again got uncomfortable. "Uncle, I told you, I can't drink on my meds." Obito lied. She had cut down her dosage and would be drinking in the later evening, when the happy couple had left.

“Bah, just a glass to toast the happy couple.” Yakumi insisted.

“No thank you," she ignored the glass he poured and stuck to her water. At the front of the hall the speeches were finally ending with Fugaku standing to give the last words.“Why is Fugaku giving Naomi's parents-in-law uchiwa and money, I thought only her husband was joining the clan?” 

“Oh that's an old custom from back in the day. Before we had villages, shinobi would sometimes "steal" a lover from another shinobi clan and leave payment and a token of the family that was doing the stealing. The idea was the other family had three days to track down the couple, otherwise they lost claim to the stolen person. Sometimes it was all pretend, done with both families permission. And sometimes,” Yakumi laughed an ugly laugh. “The family found their stolen kin, killed their partner and dragged them home.” He took a deep drink from his cup.

“We actually gained a fair amount of smaller clans that way, during the founding of Konoha. Bunch of opportunistic lovers making a bid for a life away from their families. Think the custom is still in the law books.”

“I don't like the idea of stealing people.” said Obito firmly. “As if you were ashamed of your feelings. Such things should be done in the open.”

“Well you don't have to worry about it, you're in the best clan in the land, no need to marry out. Some lucky Uchiha fellow will snap you up in no time.” Under the table Obito felt a hand on her leg. For an instant she thought it was Kamo giving her a comforting pat on the knee. But then the hand moved up and squeezed.

Obito knocked over her water and shook the whole table, standing up and drawing the attention to her. “I just- bathroom.” she said lamely and fled.

  
  


 

In the roomy bathroom she washed her hands, was about to wash her face, then remembered her make-up. She looked into the mirror and stared at the strange girl in the mirror. Her scars were still visible, but less so, attention drawn to her made up eyes and mouth. The ornament in her hair was a beautiful bunch of chrysanthemums that matched the orange obi someone had tied for her in an elaborate style. Her figure was flattered by the cut of the blue kimono and the sleeves, though short, did hide most of her arm scars. Untraditional boots disguised her false leg. She looked nice.

Mai, perched over an open window, looked at her lazily, "You okay?"

Obito slumped onto the windowsill next to her. "No. Yakumi's being weird.”

“If you mean a leech, then yeah I know, he's always like this after a few glasses.”Her eyes twitched in irritation, “So he's like this to everyone?”

“If you're single and pretty, yeah he is." Mai took a deep puff on her cigarette, and slowly blew out the smoke. "Didn't warn you cause I didn't know how nice you could look these days.”

“Wow. Thanks Mai.” Obito said with heavy sarcasm.

Mai shrugged her shoulder, elegant cranes raising their wings with her movements. “You know what I mean. You usually wander around with a bush of unbrushed hair and baggy old clothing. Maybe Yakumi really does fancy you if you can look like that.”

“Please.” Obito waved a hand in derision. “No one likes me like that.”

Mai gave her a look Obito often got from her family. A look that said it was painful how wrong Obito was and the coming explanation was going to be even more painful.“Are you kidding me? Inabi and Kaoru have been throwing themselves at you for months. Inabi is just after a wife to raise his status but Kaoru really likes you. She hasn't shown an interest in anyone since her top surgery.

Obito stared at her. "Why would I raise Inabi's status, I'm the clan fuck-up." 

Mai growled and pushed off the window, flicking away her cigarette. "You utter moron. You have the Sharingan which means your kids will have it too given half a chance and a traumatic incident. You’re are the last in Baru's line, which means you’re the only one who can pass on his bloodline. And finally-” She came to stand in front of Obito, looking down at her with uncharacteristic solemness. “You were the student of a Hokage, no matter what the clan want us to believe, that carries a huge amount of weight in the village. For someone like Inabi, whose aiming to be the first Uchiha in the ANBU that’s a huge benefit.” Her made up lips broke into a smirk and she patted Obito’s head patronisingly “Plus you're all social and pleasant to be around and shit." Mai turned to the mirror, adjusted her kimono to show off more of her chest and left the bathroom.

Obito remained where she was, having decided she was done with her family for the day

  
  
  


Of course she did have to come out eventually,  when the meal was over and everyone got ready to proceed back to the Compound. Naomi and her new husband would lead the entire clan through the streets, so everyone would know they had a new member.Obito managed to avoid all the grown-ups and joined the crowd between Itachi and Izumi.

Obito managed to avoid all the grown-ups and joined the crowd between Itachi and Izumi.

“I wore that furisode to my first clan wedding.” she told the young girl with a smile. “And Fugaku-san told me Mikoto-san wore it the first time he met her, before that.”

Izumi looked down at her pretty butterfly kimono and smiled with delight, giving a little twirl as they walked out of the hall into the streets. A few people threw tokens of good-luck at the newly weds, but mostly the people on the streets just watched as the clan moved along. Naomi’s in-laws remained behind, waving good-bye to their son. His mother was crying.

“So,” Obito said after a while. “How’s school?”

Itachi and Izumi exchanged looks. Izumi looked away first, then ran ahead to help carry Naomi’s flowing trail.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…” Obito told Itachi when he still looked pensive.

Itachi walked a little closer to her, speaking softly in the large crowd. “The other children, they don’t like me.”

“Oh.” Memories of her own first year in the Academy, of  Kakashi overshadowing everyone in every lesson, flowed through her mind. “Well, just don’t rub in their faces how much better you are, they’ll forget you showing off eventually.”

“But I don’t!” Itachi’s eye were wide. “I only do what I’m told, every time. They still get mad.”

“Errr, try helping the- no wait that won’t work.” Obito thought. “What about if you compliment your classmates when they do something right?”

Itachi stared at her. “But what we learn is so easy. Anyone can do it.”

“No they can’t. That’s the point. Just- just smile at people, show them you’re friendly.”

Itachi looked even more upset. “I can’t do that!”

“Why?”

He blushed. “The girls.” he looked down at the ground. “They squeal.”

“Oh yes. I forgot about the fangirls.” Obito had been profoundly grateful she had entered the academy as a boy, sparing her the need to join the pack of girls that trailed after Kakashi during his year in the academy. “What if I pick you up one day and just embarrass you in front of them. What if I say you’re afraid of the dark?”

“A ninja is not afraid of the dark.”

“It’s a lie to make you look less cool. How about I tell them you’re afraid of mice?”

“I killed and ate a mouse during survival training.”

“Of course you did.” Obito sighed. “Sorry kid, maybe hope puberty is unkind to you. A few spots and greasy hair should get rid of most of them.”

“Hum,” Itachi went back to staring ahead. Obito focused on avoiding anyone who looked like they wanted to talk to her. Once they made it safely through the compound gates she slipped away from the crowd and went home to focus on her seal work. And drown out the millions of new worries the day had brought her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obito makes bad decisions and gets chewed out about it.
> 
> And then the fic finally lives up to it's pairing promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So unedited. So jumpy and disconnected.  
> Please tell me what I can do to make it better.  
> And comments in general, please.

About three hours into her studies Obito gave up on trying to work out how to design a sewn storage seal. Her shoulder and knee ached from having skipped out some of her pain medication. She had expected to spend the night drinking and singing to the health of the new couple around a traditional bonfire. Maybe even attempted some of the fire dances and more pretty fire jutsu. Instead she was stuck in her room hiding from her family and their issues.

Abruptly Obito decided not to put up with their nonsense. She hadn’t done anything wrong to deserve this. Except maybe ignore the signs that Inabi and Kaoru were trying to court her… and that Izanami was overworked… and Sakuya probably needed to talk to someone seriously about her relationship with Sumiya…and Itachi needed advice on how to be normal...

No. She wanted a drink and she was going to get one. Just not in the Uchiha compound. Obito got up and struggled into normal clothes. She left her hair and make-up as it was. A set of seals on her bedroom door, locking it up for the night, plus a note on the door saying she was fine and just went to bed early, masked Obito’s escape from the empty house.

From the centre of the compound Obito could hear the sound of laughter and singing, smell the fire that was always lit when the Uchiha had a ceremony. She had an odd feeling of homesickness, as if she were still miles from home. She had always loved the bonfire part of celebrations, the singing and dancing and fire-jumping. She almost went back, until she remembered she would not be allowed to fire jump or do much of the dancing. And she could only sing for so long before someone cornered her for an awkward conversation.

The thought of more drama, of her unwanted suitors, of the scheming relatives, steeled her heart. She had to get away from her family, remember the outside world. It was painfully easy to find where Jiraya had briefly opened the main set of seals on the compound walls and reopen them to slip up and over the walls unnoticed. The actual climbing of the wall, which was coated with anti-chakra paint, presented more of a problem. She had to put most of her weight into her arms while her right knee stump and it’s prosthetic leg dangled uselessly. And the landing on the other side was agony, but she managed to bit down her yelp of pain.

She headed for the bar her year mates usually frequented in, lingered outside until someone she knew passed by and went in with them, despite having no visible shinobi headband.

She was going to have fun and no one could stop her.

  
  
  
  
  


“So I hear someone had fun last night.” Mariko said neutrally as she pulled open the curtains of her examination room.

Obito whimpered and cowered away from the morning sunlight. Her entire body throbbed with pain and nausea. She clutched the examination table’s tiny pillow as if it could protect her from the daylight.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Mariko finished sorting out her room and turned to her first patient of the day. Obito, on three hours of sleep, hungover and now knowing her escapades were known to others, was not a pleasant sight. Her bushy hair was still a bit damp from her rushed shower and her clothes had been picked up off the floor, dirty as they were. She had had to fake ‘womanly troubles’ to get her concerned grandfather to leave her alone that morning to unsteadily get ready and frantically try to work out which pills she could take together for her hangover. All she had wanted was to return to bed, but she had an early morning clinic appointment and work to go to after. Fortunately most of her family were also nursing hangovers and failed to notice how bad she had looked when she left the compound that morning.

“How do you know?” Obito demanded, still closing her eyes against the glare of the mild sunlight. Said eyes that helpfully prevented her from forgetting anything that happened while she was stupidly drunk the night before.

“Remember the nice person holding back your hair while you puked in the bathroom? That was my cousin Hikari.” The image of the Hyuuga door keeper wrinkling their nose at her flashed through Obito’s mind.

“Oh Heath Goddess,” Obito curled in on herself as much as her back would let her. “Did I really-?”

“Declare they were hot regardless of what gender they were, get into a fist fight with the guy harassing them, throw up on him then take over the bathroom to be more sick and prevent him from cleaning up? Yes you did.” Mariko calmly gathered chakra to her hands and walked around the bed to reach Obito’s shoulder.

“Oh Sage. And Gai was paying for my drinks all night, I owe him so much money.”

“I’m sure the singing contest you organised and let him win will go some way to lessening your debts.” she said lightly, running her palm over her crooked bones.

“Oh Gods. What was I thinking?”

“Apparently, based on the rant you gave from the table top: you were reclaiming your autonomy by doing whatever and whoever you damn well pleased.” Mariko channelled chakra into Obito’s shoulder bones.

“Nooooo.” Obito lay down on her side and put the pillow over her head with her free arm.

“Yes well, the bright side of this is apparently very few people knew exactly who you were in your make-up and straight hair. Hikari thinks only they, Gai and his teammate recognised you. You’ve amused Hikari, which buys you their silence, so you just need to worry about Chouza’s two students.”

Obito went limp in the face of such facts and let Mariko do what she wanted to her chakra system.

“Now would you like to tell me why you felt the need to get dangerously drunk away from your protective family and without anyone watch your back?” Mariko held up Obito’s right hand and manipulated the fingers into various grips.

“Family,” Obito groaned.

Mariko shook her head. “Sorry, that's just not good enough. You went out after dark, unaccompanied and got drunk.” she poked the bones in Obito’s arms with unnecessary force, though her voice remained level. “You were certainly out for more than 2 hours, so you broke your clan’s own rules and well as curfew. Please tell me you at least told someone where you were going.” She worked her way up Obito’s arm, checking it’s mobility.

Obito was silent. Mariko let go of her arm and walked away with a disgusted sound. "Why am I wasting my time trying to make you better, when you're just going be self destructive?”

Silence.

Mariko loudly got out a file and opened to a page, looking professional. Then she sighed and dropped the file back onto her desk. "You are at risk. Real risk. Do you not understand that? Your name, your face is known to other villages! And you just went out alone where anyone could have killed you and stolen your eye, even if they hadn't planed to! A disgruntled civilian, a traitor nin! Anyone could have hurt you and you wouldn't have been able to stop-” she was talking loudly now, Hyuuya coolness lost in the intensity of her words.

“I know okay!” Obito interrupted her, sitting up again. “I know it was stupid and destructive and selfish. But I'm fine so why go on about it?” She glared at the floor angry at herself and at Mariko. She really didn’t expect Mariko to take her actions so personally.

Mariko spoke again, a bit more calmly, “I'll never be grateful for the branch house seal, but seeing you be so incredibly reckless with your life and bloodline... Well it almost makes me see how the Main House can justify it." Mariko picked up her folder again and reluctantly opened it. "And you've officially outgrown your leg. I recommend waiting a few months and making sure you've stopped growing before ordering a new one.”

Obito raised her head to stare at Mariko. “But what will I do in the meantime?”

“You managed very well with a crutch before, though it will end any progress we’ve made with your shoulder.”

“But,” Obito tried to verbalise her discomfort. “Some of the people I work with, that I see every day, they don’t know I have a false leg.”

“Yes?”

“So I don’t want them to treat me differently.” she said in a quiet voice. She looked down at the floor again.

Mariko looked at her and her cool eyes softened slightly. “Good quality prosthetics are expensive, you’ll have to make do until we can be certain you won’t outgrow another one. Does it really matter what a few civilians think of you?”

“Yes! And I’d feel vulnerable, not being able to run properly.” Obito’s voice was small when she admitted it.

Mariko put down the file and came to stand by her again. “Yes well,” Mariko tilted Obito’s head up to look at her, “I think last night proved you’re doing a little too much running away from your problems, don’t you think?”

Obito pouted and tugged her chin out of her gentle grip, looking away. “I know it’s ridiculous but I got used to being seen as normal- in public.”

Mariko sighed. “You won’t be as bad off as you were before, you have more mobility in your fingers and arms, you’re much stronger now too. Even your chakra is less mangled. You should be fine for short amounts of unsupervised time.”

Obito nodded, still not looking at her.

“You can go back to having appointments at my home. That will cut down on your travel time. And I’m sure your young man would be happy to escort you anywhere else you wanted to go.”

“Young man?” Obito looked up in confusion.

“The byakugan sees all,” Mariko brushed a brown lock of hair back into her bun. “I’d have to be sensory blind not to notice the Hatake boy showing up once a week after your appointments.”

“Oh.” Obito smiled at Mariko, “Kakashi isn’t my young man, he’s my teammate.”

"Whatever he is to you dear, he won't be pleased when he finds out about your escapades last night.” She took a breath, activated her byakugan and took a gentle fist stance abruptly. She made a quick series of finger strikes over Obito’s head and liver without warning.

“What the-” Obito caught Mariko’s wrists on the last strike, twisting them apart to pull Mariko in to bash her forehead against the older woman’s bulging eye veins. Just before their heads collided she stopped, realising her hangover and nausea had faded away.

She let go of Mariko angrily. “You could have done that at the start of this session.”

“I could,” agreed Mariko deactivating her eyes. “I wanted to make sure you really experienced the after effects of your actions. But now I want you to to listen to me,” she came forward again, putting her face right in Obito’s. "-you're not of my clan and I have no control over your actions, but if I ever ever hear about you doing anything so reckless again I will refuse to be your doctor any longer. Do you understand?”

Obito looked down at the floor again. "Yes. I understand Mariko."

Mariko tilted her head to the side, as if seeing something. "And now I think you owe someone an apology...”

“I’m sorry.”

Mariko sighed. “No dear, not me...”

  
  


Obito was greeted on the steps to the clinic with a frosty silence coming from one shadowy corner of the building above her.

“I know. I know. I just got a lecture.” she said morosely.

The silence seemed to get even more cold.

“Nothing happened. Everything was fine. No harm done.”

Kakashi jumped down from his perch and landed near Obito. He gave her a wordless once over, then walked past her, visibly trying to hold back his temper.

Obito followed him down the street, still feeling slightly unwell and ashamed. As she watched the back of Kakashi, shoulder blades visibly bunch together tensely, her guilt turned to stubbornness. "Nothing happened to me, I got drunk, got sick, went home. Gai even distracted the guards so I could sneak back in without getting caught..”

“So you didn't just risk yourself, but your family’s safety and Gai's career as well.” Kakashi ground out, not stopping his brisk walk towards their usual training spot.

“I...that's not...” Her guilt warred with her anger. She had behaved badly, she got it. Why was everyone so upset about it? “I know your life is all about the rules. But I'm not your subordinate any more! You can't tell me what to do!” Even as the words left her mouth she wanted to take them back. She had gone too far.

Kakashi stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face her. Obito tried to avoid his face without being obvious about it. She hadn't ever been scared of Kakashi, but right now she feared his reaction.

“You know.” His voice was expressionless. “I actually managed to forget this side of you. This reckless selfish steak you have. Where nothing matters but what you want.”

Obito opened her mouth to argue.

“I thought Gai must have been joking when he told me he saw you last night. That you went out alone to an unfamiliar bar, by yourself, and got so drunk he had to carry you home!” Was there a tremble in Kakashi’s voice? Of course not, that was just Obito’s shame affecting her hearing.

Anger overtook guilt. “I had weapons, I knew exactly what I was doing!” She said, focusing her eyes on Kakashi.

His face was impassioned. “Name the bartender at the bar.” Obito’s visual memory told her which of the three workers made her drinks but his name escaped her. “Tell me which drinks you drank last night,” She had four, maybe five of the blue drinks with shooters and then another two- “Tell me how many drinks you had altogether.”

“Seven!” Obito triumphantly answered.

Kakashi looked at her.

“-teen.” she added reluctantly, looking down at the ground between them.

When Kakashi spoke it was with hesitance but growing intensity. “You can’t... You can’t tell me I can worry about you, care about you, then do things like this!”

Obito groaned, anger abandoning her to guilt’s painful grasp. “Okay. Okay fine! I screwed up. I did one stupid thing after another, refused to admit it and I’m lucky not to be in more trouble! I messed up and I risked everything. I get it. I’m sorry! But-” She ran her hands through her hair, waved them around in the air and finally held them out to Kakashi, “I just needed to get out. It was like the walls were closing in on me and my family! With the arguing and the sniping and- and the groping and courting! I had get out and run. But I can’t run, not any more. So I went drinking instead. It was stupid.” She added in a softer voice. “I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid!” Kakashi said fiercely. “You just act like it sometimes.”

Abruptly Obito laughed, recognising the irony of Kakashi telling her she wasn’t stupid. That was such a change from their arguments from when they were younger. She laughed for a long while, almost hysterically, until her nausea threatened to return, then took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m not stupid.” she wiped away the tears in her eyes. “I just act like it sometimes.” She looked up at Kakashi, who was looking at her with concern. “I am sorry Kakashi. I won’t take stupid risks like that again. I promise.” She held out her hand, fingers twisted in the seal of reconciliation.

Kakashi let out a long breath and slowly met her fingers with his own. “You need to think before you act. Please.”

The way he said please, almost pleading, softened her heart. Completely ignoring his request to think before acting, she moved forward and put her arms around his waist, feeling his muscles tense up, then slowly relax.

Obito hadn’t hugged many people that weren’t family lately. It was odd, not to smell smoke and home-made laundry soap, to hold a body not the same high temperature all Uchiha ran at. Even the soft breath at her ear felt different. Kakashi didn’t smell of anything and his body slowly warmed where Obito held him.

Slowly one hand came up to the small of her back and very gently patted her, as he did to his dogs.

That tiny gesture of kindness was the final blow to her emotional wall. Tears started falling from her eyes, even as she struggled to talk. “They’re going to take my leg.”

The hand on her back stopped moving and pressed hard for a second. “What do you mean?”

“I’m- too tall and I won’t get a new one for months!” she was actually embarrassed now. It was such a small thing to cry about, just a little inconvenience to her life. And yet- “They won’t let me out alone again!”

Tentatively Kakashi let his hand move and wrap Obito closer into the hug, while his other hand came up to awkwardly rub her shoulder. “Could this be solved with an act of violence?”

Obito laughed through her sobs, rubbing her nose into his shirt. “No.”

“Alright. Aright.” gently Kakashi pulled her away so he could look down at her. “We’ll work something out. Just please stop crying.”

“I’m trying.” she sniffed. The words _we’ll work something out_ made her back tingle where he was holding her. It wouldn’t be like last time, six months before. Obito had Kakashi and all her other friends, she wouldn’t be trapped in the compound again. She could handle having one leg for just a few months.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Amazingly few people commented on Obito missing the last part of the wedding. Many Uchiha were nursing their own hangovers, food comas and fire injuries, uninterested in anything but passing the day with as little fuss as possible.

The only one acting weird was Karuo who hung around Obito’s help desk awkwardly giving her sad looks out of the corner of her eye.

“What is it Karuo,” Asked Obito as she ate her lunch at her desk. It had been a busy shift and she didn’t want to leave in case more people came in.

“I....I was hoping to speak to you during the wedding, but I couldn’t seem to find you.” Karuo said quietly.

“I ate too much, went home early.” Obito said airily.

“Oh, are you feeling okay now?” Karuo asked in concern. “I can get you something if you want.”

“I’m okay now, mostly.” Obito smiled brightly. “What did you want to talk about.” _nothingseriousnothingserious_ she chanted in her head.

“I… well… you’re turning 17 next month...” Karuo said slowly. “I was wondering if you had any plans for then...”

“I’m hoping for cake, and maybe something shiny as a gift.” Obito said. “Although I’d prefer money to be honest.”

“Nothing nothing else? For the future?” Karuo came a bit closer, looked at her seriously.

Obito swallowed. “Not really?”

Karuo took a step back, then stopped and took a purposeful step forward, right in front of her. Reluctantly Obito turned in her chair to face her directly.

“I- I really like you,” began Karuo

“I like you too!” Obito quickly stood up and hugged Karuo, looking over her shoulder for someone, anyone to interrupt them. Everyone else in the waiting room avoided her eyes, pretending they weren’t eavesdropping intently. Obito sighed and tightened the hug. It was like hugging Sakuya or her aunt. She felt nothing but family affection for Karuto. She really hoped Karuo could read her emotions through the hug.

Reluctantly Obito pulled way and looked Karuo in the eyes. Karuo’s face was blank, the perfect mask of neutrality her family used to hide all inconvenient emotions.

“I’m glad we had this talk. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” Karuo said woodenly, stepping away from Obito.

“It wasn’t a waste of time.” Obito told her earnestly.

Karuo looked at her for a second. “For you maybe.” she said quietly, then walked away into the back offices.

Obito breathed out slowly, as if she’d been sucker punched. Maybe she had deserved that, for not picking up on Karuo’s emotions sooner? She abandoned her desk and went out to walk around the police courtyard, feeling the walls of the building grow closer above her.

  


 

Kamo knocked on Obito’s door a few hours after she had returned home and came in with steaming tea and dango.

Obito looked up from the floor, where she sat surrounded by tiny scraps of fabric of various colours. Her false leg was off and lying half under her work desk.

“While I would never try to influence you in matters of the heart," Kamo said as he carefully put down his tray. "I will just ask if you really needed to refuse Karuo's advances quite so abruptly."

Obito didn't respond, pinning strips of purple and green material together.

"Karuo is high strung at times and very wrapped up in her own goals, but she is also sensible, stable and does seem to truly enjoy your company."

"Me and my apparent high statues." Obito muttered, adding a strip of white.

"Ah," Kamo sat down onto her work chair and looked at her worriedly. "Someone finally told you."

"That I'm important enough for Inabi and Karuo to be competing over me like some prize summons scroll? That I have some magical link to a hokage who didn't even send me a letter of thanks for my services!" Obito hissed pinning a strip of burnt orange to peach, "Everyone knew! Everyone knew what was going on but me. Again," she wiped away a tear before it could fall on her work. "I'm the one missing all the facts, the one left out again. I thought I'd outgrown this at least. How could you not tell me?”

Kamo lend back and considered. “Partly selfishness I suppose. I didn't like the idea of you leaving me to get married. And partly to shield you from the realities of life until I thought you were ready. If you had shown any sign of wanting a marriage or responsibility, I would have spoken to you. But," Kamo stared into space for a second. "I worked outside of the clan, outside of the police force for most of my career. You youngsters don't understand how complicated politics can be. Right now the village is still in turmoil, under the surface. It's in our best interests to remain quiet, and unnoticed till the unrest dies down.”

"I don't understand." Obito’s fingers blurred as she attached blue to white, forming a solid shape of multicolours.

Kamo looked at her seriously. "We are smaller than we were, weaker. Our clan lost so many in the war and the demon attack. The leaders of the family wish to reclaim our place of power in the village fast, before we have truly recovered. They think it a simple matter of marrying you off to a promising shinobi, declaring you an adult ahead of time and utilizing your vote on the council for the clan’s own ends.”

Obito put down her work abruptly. “Wait, what?”

“All students of a Hokage have an automatic position on the council and a vote in all village matters, when they come of age. Fugaku has two votes as police captain and clan. Sarutobi has three votes plus the two of his students, while they are out of the village. You will be one of the few others with three votes once you come of age.” Kamo looked at her sadly.

“Three?” Obito whispered. Her heart beat fast as she tried to understand what she was being told. Council positions, village votes? She had no idea such things were applicable for her.

“The Hakate boy left you his two in the event of his absence, as his next of kin.” Kamo told her. “If he’s still live, if not then you’ll probably only get the Hakate head vote.”

“What!” Obito yelled, banging on hand on the floor, narrowly missing a box of pins.

Kamo looked at her in concern. “It was in the documents Ranma had you sign?”

“What the fuck?” Obito’s rush of anger was aimed at her stupid martyr of a teammate and the conniving elder who waved the document right under her nose.

“Language dear.” Kamo cautioned her.

“So this is why everyone is after me to get married, so we can have three extra votes a year ahead of schedule?” demanded Obito.

“3 years. Civilians only come of age at 20, not 18 like shinobi.”

“I am shinobi!” Obito screamed, coming up to stand on her knees, the highest she could manage to loom. She sank back down at her grandfather’s disapproving frown.

“You were honourably discharged dear.” he corrected her gently.

“Wait. Is this why Auntie wants me married and pregnant so soon? Is she in on this?” Obito didn’t think she could bear it if Izanami had been lying to her all this time.

“No. Your aunt harbours the deep believe that no one has achieve true happiness until they have a child of their own clutched in their arms and another on the way. I'm sure the fact that you being married in your own household would mean you could foster half of her own charges doesn't occur to her at all.”

Obito’s eye twitched a little as she tried to comprehend all the new information she was taking in. Eventually she decided to focus on Kamo insulting her aunt. “Grandfather.” She said reproachfully.

Kamo raised his hands. “I apologise. I'm sure Izanami has only your best interest at heart. Like I did when I chose not to tell you about the votes.”

Obito bit her lip. She wanted to pursue the details concerning Kakashi but was afraid she might reveal something of the meetings with him. She had felt guilty not telling her grandfather about their reconciliation, but now she was glad. If her family kept secrets from her she could keep secrets from them.

“So everyone knows about the votes and the council position.” she said slowly, feeling out the facts. “And that’s why everyone is pushing marriage down my throat.”

“Don’t sell yourself dear. You are quite appealing all on your own.” Kamo reached down to touch her shoulder gently. “Even if you weren’t the last of my father’s line-”

“That never mattered when I was young! Why does it matter now?”

“Because there were seven in line before me.” Kamo told her a matter-of-factly. He picked up a dango and passed it to her. “There seemed such a small chance you and I would be the last left. I never expected to outlive all my brothers and sisters, let alone their children too.” He picked up his own dumpling. “All they really left was money and a reputation for recklessness. I’m grateful for the money, I couldn’t have afforded half the operations you’ve needed. And I’m grateful the recklessness was skipped over on you and I.”

Obito picked at her dango and avoided his eyes. “I thought the clan paid for me.”

“They pay for your clinic appointments and medication. Medical services are terribly high for civilians. Even-” he held up a hand to cut off Obito’s objections, “-even honourably discharged former shinobi.”

“Yes well,” Obito stuffed the whole treat into her mouth. “When I’m on the council that’ll be the first thing I change.” she declared, cheek bulging.

“Be careful what you say,” Kamo cautioned her, “As I said, our best interests as a clan is to keep our heads down and ride out the turmoil. When you come of age, in three years, then you can say what you like. But for now hold your tongue and stick to your needlework.” He nodded to the pile of seal books stacked on her desk.

Obito nodded without looking at him, her mind whirling. She didn’t respond when Kamo spoke again or when he got up and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him. She sat and pinned bits of fabric together, fingers never faltering as she made order from chaos, took loose scraps from her past and made them into something new. Her mind slowly quieted as she focused on her work and nothing else. Nothing existed but this project, nothing else mattered but completing this scarf.

She wasn’t caught up in the schemes of her family. She hadn’t hurt two people who unexpectedly cared about her. She hadn’t deliberately crushed the hopes of another person either, or found out her family had kept secrets from her for their own selfish wants. She wasn’t about to lose her mobility and independence again. All that had happened was she sat down and started on a project she had been putting off for months. Her fingers danced, as she pinned and unpinned, compared and matched colours together, using pieces as small as her fingernails to as large as her palm. They were all that mattered right now.

It was hours later when she finally looked up from her work, patchwork scarf pinned together and ready to be sewn. Her back and neck muscles ached, her hangover was back with vengeance, her stomach was both nauseous and hungry. Obito drank the cold tea, ate more dango and took what pills she could manage. Then she went to bed and vowed to face her problems in the morning.

As she shut her eyes, the sight of what would be her new scarf, made from the scraps from Team 7’s clothing, gave her a sense of peace.

 

 

 

Obito had two maybe three days of relative freedom before the clan caught on to the fact that she wasn’t walking with her usual sturdiness and cut off her sole trips. In that time she worked like a maniac, gathering sealing equipment she might need and getting contact details from her fellow veterans and office workers. If she was going to be confined to the compound again she wanted a way to communicate with the outside world.

Under the cover of attempting at avoid Karou she worked a few late night shifts in the morgue, helping examine the last of Orochmaru’s victims. Though she was not technically qualified to work on the bodies themselves, the supervisor saw no harm in Obito finishing up after autopsies had been completed. Her stitches were very neat after all. During that time Obito often was left alone with the bodies and able to try sewing her own unique seals onto the skin, removing them before anyone noticed her side work.

It was rushed but she felt confident in her abilities when Kakashi discreetly meet her after work and walked her back to his tiny flat.

“You’re sure you know what you’re doing?” Pukkan demanded as Obto sterilised her thinnest needle with a flame.

“Yes, I’ve practised on corpses for three days,” Obito said distractedly, blowing out the flame on her finger.

“Kakashi is not a corpse.”

Obito looked over at Kakashi, seated on his low kitchen table, staring into space as his head summons and teammate argued with each other. “You sure?”

“Girly, if you mess this up...” Pukkan threatened.

“You’ll bury me alive?” Obito smirked at Pukkan, threading the needle with surgical-nin thread. “Been there, survived it. You can threaten me all you like. But when I succeed, I get to touch your paws.”

“Fine.”

Obito tied the end of the thread with a twist, then approached Kakashi calmly. With him sitting on the table, and her standing she was exactly eye-level with his scared cheek. “This should feel more weird than painful,” she told him, looking into his deactivated eye.

Kakashi nodded jerkily.

Gently she traced the scar of his eye from bottom to top. She felt a bit strange looking at it, the injury she had caused and Rin had healed. She tried not to think about what it must have been like for Kakashi, looking in the mirror each day and seeing a permanent reminder of his lost team. Almost at the top of the scar, right on the cusp of his eye socket bone she dabbed disinfectant. “Want something to bite on?” she asked him, peering into his eyes.

Both pupils dilated. “No.” he clipped out.

“Okay.” She rested her needle against his skin, took a breath and pushed it though layers of his skin. It took less than a minute to stitch the four point seal into his skin, small as her finger tip, only possible with the aid of the sharingan’s magnified vision.

“There, all done.” She blew gently over the seal, as a single drop of blood welled up over it.

Kakashi shuddered hard. It must have hurt more than she expected it to.

“Okay kid, back away from the boss.” demanded Pukkan, “Does this thing actually work?”

Obito turned to give Pukkan a glare. He wasn’t usually this short with her. “One way to find out.” She turned back to the now still Kakashi and formed a series of hand signs ending by putting a single finger next to the newly sewn seal. It sucked greedily at her offered chakra, one stitch then another disappearing from view as the chakra well within it was filled. Once it was filled the seal was completely invisible.

“How do you feel?” asked Obito, leaning in close

Kakashi stared at her, mouth moving slowly under his mask. “Good.” he said softly. Obito grinned at him.

“Okay kid.” Pukkan headbutted her ankle. “You may touch one paw.”

“Oh goodie.” Obito backed away from Kakashi, bent down and scooped up Pukkan.

“I never said you could pick me up!” Pukkan protested as she snuggled him to her chest. After a blissful minute of rubbing his feather soft paw Obito turned back to Kakashi. Who was off the table and in the far corner of the apartment, mask rolled back to it’s full height and headband over the eye as well.

“Hey! Let me see if it works,” Protested Obito coming towards him.

Kakashi backed away. “It does I can tell.”

“Kakashi!” she frowned at him.

“Fine.” He stopped moving away from her, rearranging his poster into his customary slouch. Obito had to lean up to look with her own sharingan as he uncovered it again. One seal sign from Kakashi turned the eye from back to red, chakra being sucked from the seal’s supply, not his own white energy.

Kakashi flashed through a set of hand signs, making the whole apartment appear to be under water, then cancelled the jutsu with a heavy dismissal. One stitch of the seal appeared, as a tenth of the chakra stored in the seal was used up.

Obito sighed and put out her hand to refill the seal. “You do know you don’t have to put so much chakra with a genjutsu right? The eye amplifies the illusions and hits everyone in eye contact with it. You can use less chakra.

Kakashi shrugged. “Better to be sure it hits everyone, than use too little and miss a target.”

“I’d argue with you but I still have to do my own seal.” Obito backed away from Kakashi and went to sit by her seal supplies, putting Pukkan down. He watched her grumpily as she re-sterilised her needle with a tiny fireball. Calmly she threaded the needle with fresh surgical thread, then laid down her tools to strip off her shirt.

“What are you doing!” Kakashi still in his defensive corner almost yelped as Obito was left in her thin undershirt.

“I wanna put the seal under my arm,” she said unconcernedly, raising her good arm. “I can’t have sleeves in the way.” She dabbed disinfectant on her armpit liberally. “Just be glad I thought to shave and don’t need to use yours.” She got out a small mirror and set it down on the table, to help her see the whole area. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see clearly.” She ignored Kakashi’s spluttering, Pukkan’s groan and pushed the needle gently through her skin, to stitch a completely different seal.

It hurt, to thread through her skin. There were glands and nerves in the hollow of her armpits that stung as they were pricked and tugged at.

“Ow,” her eyes watered at the pain.

“Are you okay?” Kakashi had circled around her, and was now watching her sewing from across the table.

“It’s fine.” Obito continued sewing, expanding the seal. “Just hurts at first. I’m getting used to it already.” It took her a long time to finish, due to the awkward angle she was sewing at, with only one hand to use. But she managed and finished the large seal without too much discomfort. When she lowered her arm the seal was hidden within the folds of her skin.

“All done.” she smiled, reaching for a healing cream.

Pukkan hopped on the table to sniff her. “And what does that one do?”

“It’s based on the chakra pulse technique I use to locate Kakashi via my eye.” Obito told him, moving her arm gingerly as she put cream on the seal. “With a bit of ninjutsu thrown in. When I activate it a pulse should go through anyone with a sharingan, including Kakashi, signalling where I am. Plus it’s pretty, don’t you think?” She raised her arm as high as she could, showing off the star shaped stitching.

Pukkan pressed his cold nose into the seal.

Obito shrieked and flinched away from him. “Why?”

“Just refreshing my memory of your scent. In case that thing fails.” Pukkan looked over at the silent Kakashi. “Okay if I go, Boss?”

“What?” Kakashi blinked. “Oh yes, we have to go too. Pack your stuff Obito.”

“I don’t wanna go home.” Obito complained as she packed. “Grandfather noticed I’m walking weird, I’ll lose my leg by the end of the week, if not sooner.” Pukkan disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“It’ll be fine. Just a few months at home. You’ll be out again in no time.”

“But will I be out unmarried is the question.” She muttered, getting to her feet.

Kakashi took her hand and helped her stand, taking her bag without comment.

“Isn’t- isn’t there anyone else you could leave your votes too?” Obito asked hesitantly. “My clan is really keen to use them. If you left them to someone else they might back down about marriage.”

Kakshi still held her hand and now he squeezed it. “I checked the laws before I made out my will. No one can order you to marry, not in Konoha.”

“No one is ordering me to do anything. They’re just being really intense about it.” Obito frowned up at him. “My clan is bad at dropping an idea once they make up their minds.”

Kakashi looked down at her, let go of her hand and very gently brushed back some of her hair from her eyes. “There is no one I trust more with a say in Konoha’s future.”

Obito blushed and looked away. “Shut up. No you don’t”

“Yes,” Kakashi’s hand tugged her head back to face him. “I really do.”

Her mind went blank and her blush darkened. Kakashi was looking at her intently, as if she held the secrets of the Sage. She didn’t really like it. “...I need to… go now.” she said softly dropping her eyes down. She felt Kakashi’s breath on her cheek.

“...Yes you do.” Kakashi let go of her hair and stepped away from her, opening the door for her. “I have a mission to pack for too. Won’t be back for a few weeks.”

“You’ll know where to find me when you do.” Obito told him with a smile. “Be safe.”

 

  


Obito managed a week before her clan figured out her prosthetic leg was so small it was damaging her other leg to walk with it. Then it was pried out of her hands and locked in communal storage for the next amputee the clan would have in her size. Her police job was quickly changed to one in the clan archives working on mountains of paperwork, much to her disgust. And of course, her permission to leave the clan grounds unescorted was revoked. She wouldn’t be seeing the outside world alone until a new prosthetic could be made to measure for her.

“This is perfect, you can stay in and help me with the kids.” Izanami told her unsympathetically, as four shoeless children fought over a single sandel behind her.

Obito, who had been planning to sulk the day away found a fifth child dropped into her lap. “Wasn’t I banned from babysitting for life?”

“This is an emergency.” Izanami’s eyes had the haunted look of a war survivor. “I have seven kids, it’s exam week at the academy and no one else will help.”

Fuji in Obito’s lap started to cry. Obito blew spit bubbles and crossed her eyes until Fuji stopped her sobs out of confusion. Then she giggled and tried to copy her.

“Why do you have so many kids. Isn’t anyone else fostering?” Obito asked Izanami, who had somehow gotten four kids into shoes and coats and was now tying back hair and wiping faces.

“No one wants to give up their day jobs,” Izanami briskly braided one boy’s hair while he brushed his sister’s ponytail. “No one else has the savings or the space.”

“So me asking for money for this-” Obito asked uncertainly, as her own hair was set upon by another kid.

“Consider it free experience for when you have your own.” Izanami told her with a smile.

Obito didn’t have the strength to argue with her aunt that day. She just sighed and let her hair be tied up in two uneven pigtails.

 

 

 

Archive work meant contact with the Elder Ranma. And that meant an all out screaming matches about Council votes, documents signed without reading and stubborn young people who refused to do what was best for them.

“It’s not like you’re being ordered to marry!” Ranma yelled down a corridor of bookshelves from the genealogy section of the Clan archives.

“It really feels like I am!” Obito screamed back from the transcripts of old council meetings, some heavily censored. “You set it up so I’d think it was all for my own good, but really it was all about what you want!”

“What I want is for the good of the clan! Of which you are a part of!” Ranma waved a scroll at the distant shape of Obito on the other side of the room.

“If you really believe that you would have told me what was going on, not manipulated me into signing that document without reading it!”

“If you don’t know to read a document before you sign it, then you have no business controlling three council votes!”

“So I should trust you to do what’s best for me, but not trust you enough to blindly sign things when you ask me to?”

“… Don’t sass your elders girl! What happened to the respectful child we raised?”

“She got a boulder dropped on her, then spent a year in prison before crawling home to find out half of all the people she loved are DEAD!” Obito screeched, before the dust made her cough.. She took the requested transcript and hopped along the corridor to Ranma, holding onto the sides of the shelves to keep her balance on her one leg.

She glanced over the top page as she stopped in front of Ranma’s desk and spotted a familiar name. “Oh hey Uzumaki! When did Kushina go to Council meetings?”

Ranma snatched the file from her. “Uzumaki is a common surname, most whirlpool refuges claim to be from that clan. It’s not important.” She threw it behind her without looking, where it neatly landed in the correct shelf above their heads.

Obito glared at the old woman. “I was reading that.”

“You’re being paid to work not read.” Ranma put a new pile of dusty documents into Obito’s hand. “If you’re so keen to have a place on the council, without a shinobi partner to guide you, you better start researching the duties now.”

Obito looked at the boring papers. “Yes elder.” she said glumly.

 

 

 

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Obito asked Itachi as he and Shisui escorted her to the Hyuuga lands for her appointment.

“I am in class.” Itachi told her, twirling two kuni around his finger with intense concentration.

Obito looked over to Shisui who shrugged and laughed, then activated her original eye. The Itachi walking next to her was the real one definitely. She was a little intimidated by how ordered and advanced Itachi’s chakra systems were. They were almost as good as Shisui’s, though of course Shisui’s eyes had much more extensive chakra paths around them.

“Remember what I said about showing off?”

“Yes?”

“Leaving a stable bushin in class so you can skip is showing off. It’s probably already dispersed by now, you should go back and apologise.”

Itachi got a stubborn look on his face. “They’ve never notice before.”

“That can’t be right. You’re classmates might not notice but your teachers will notice you’ve left a bushin in your place.”

“It’s a special bushin. A shadow bushin.”

Obito stopped walking and put up her crutch to stop Itachi as well. “How do you know a forbidden jutsu?”

Itachi looked at her like she was crazy. “I saw it.”

“Where?”

“...battle.”

Obito took a deep calming breath. “The war ended when you were 4, you couldn’t have seen any battles.”

Itachi just looked at her with an uncertain look. An awful unease came over Obito.

“You’ve been in a battle. When you were 4.”

“Yes?”

“How. Why. Who let this happen!” Obito demanded. Shisui stopped walking and turned back to stand by her.

“Father wanted me to see war.” Itachi tilted his head. “I didn’t get hurt at all. The man died very easily.”

Bile rose in Obito’s throat and she swallowed hard to keep it down. “Sweetheart. Please tell me you’re joking.”

Shisui patted her shoulder softly. “It’s not that big a deal Obito. I was in the war at 8, you at 10.”

Obito looked at the two boys, concerned and confused by her horror. She could remember them so clearly at 3 and 9, Itachi refusing to bath without a bribe, Shisui eating all the chocolate in his rations pack and asking for hers. She never really realised how young they all had been during the war, so small but so capable.

Shisui had sobbed himself to sleep, the night they reunited at the barracks and she had seen his new sharingan. Shisui had climbed into her lap and cried into her shoulder to muffle the noise and Obito had been jealous the 8 year old had what she at 12 was desperate to achieve. Awaking their bloodline limit by witnessing his teacher’s murder. What a fool she had been.

She dropped her crutch and flung her arms around them both and hugged them tightly. Shisui and Itachi hugged her back in confusion. “I’m so sorry you had to see that Itachi.” she whispered into the top of his head, kissing his hair. “No child should witness something so terrible, at such a young age.”

“Okay.” Itachi said simply. “Should I go back to class now?”

Obito kissed his cheek. “Yes, and at lunch try asking everyone what they’re eating. Just to be friendly.”

Itachi nodded uncertainly, waved at Shisui, still stuck in Obito’s arms and ran off.

The second he was out of earshot, Obito’s grip in Shisui turned harsh. “Did you know?”

“No. I didn’t” Shisui frowned. “He’s never mentioned it before. Do you really think it’s so bad?”

Obito dropped her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know. It just seems to unnecessary. Why send a 4 year old into war?” Another thought occurred to her. “Didn’t we found Konoha to stop this kind of thing from happening?”

“That’s what the history books say.” Shisui agreed, turning a little and starting to walk, Obito still clutching to his shoulder. “But I always figured it was because we were running out of money and supplies while old Hashirama could grow food with a wave of his hand.” He kicked up Obito's crutch and put it over his other shoulder.

“Sounds about right.” Obito agreed as they made their way slowly to the Hyuuga Home.

 

 

 

The Hyuuga answering the door was the same one as always, but now Hikari greeted Obito with a wide smirk.

“I deny everything,” Obito told them as they walked through a courtyard to Mariko’s quarters. A small group of Hyuuga children were being led in a set of katas, all dressed in matching black exercise clothes. One figure in the front row was familiar, as Neji flawlessly flowed through the exercise. Next to him a smaller girl had more trouble following the instructor.

Just as Obito left the courtyard she saw Neji’s hand dart sideways, grabbing his companion's hand as she turned the wrong way for a lunge. Without turning his head Neji corrected her arm placement and finger grip, never faltering in his own movements.

Obito swallowed as she entered the next room. “I used to be like that.” She said quietly, to the back of Hikari’s head. “Like that small girl in the front. Always falling behind. I would never have gotten to chunin without all my families support and love.”

Hikari stopped and turned to face Obito. For the first time Obito heard them speak. “That girl is our heiress.”

Obito blanched. “Well..uh… maybe she’s just a slow beginner?”

Hikari smiled unkindly. “Maybe.” She turned and continued to lead Obito away. “Maybe not.”

Obito was suddenly glad she spent her childhood regarded as unimportant by her family. If she had been in the line of clan head and as bad at school work as she had been, then her life would have been awful. _That poor girl_. She thought softly.

 

 

Mariko greeted her with indignation to her crutch technique and demands that Obito walk with it properly or be forced to use a wheelchair.

“You’re just a delight to see too,” Obito muttered as she limped around the room. “Something wrong with you?”

Mariko sighed. “How did you put it? Family.” Her voice grated on the word.

Obito nodded. “Fair enough.”

They continued the session without unnecessary talk. They broke for a snack when a sweaty Neji joined them, where Mariko inflicted strange sprouts and vegetables onto Obito’s plate, informing her that she needed the nutrients.

Obito ate what she could, then subtly tried to get Neji to eat them for her. He just giggled at her.

Obito’s heart ached when she realised Neji was almost 4, the age Itachi claimed to have been when he has seen war and killed a man. He was just a baby.

Neji ran off as soon as he had finished his meal, giving his mother a hug and Obito a squeeze of the hand.

“That means he liked you.” Mariko told her with a proud smile.

“What happens if he doesn’t like someone?”

“He stares at you from the back of his skull.”

Obito smiled. “Sounds terrifying.”

 

 

 

 

“My hand is cramping up.” complained Obito, clutching her aching wrist. Around Ema’s large dinning room table every other available worker in the clan was fanatically copying out reports from all three of the active Police Stations. It was an emergency outside of work hours and they had been doing this for hours.

“Use the other hand then,” ordered Kofun over his own pile of copied documents.

“It is my other hand. Can I take a break?”

“No. Suck it up and keep going, the Hokage wants the copies back in his office by 5 today.”

“I thought he was taking it easy and retiring. Why does he need copies of every civilian death in the last 15 years?” Obito whined, massaging feeling back into her hand.

“Why do you think, you moron. Begins with an O ends with an -Rochimaru.” Mai said as she finished one page and turned to the next, “And the old man isn’t retiring any more. He’s clinging to power.”

“But he’s so old.” Objected Obito picking up a pen and resuming her copying of death scene reports the police had processed.

“If not Sarutobi, then who?” asked Kamo reasonably.

“Hiruzen? His teammate?” suggested Yashiro slowly writing with his arthritic fingers.

“Just as old and born of civilian stock. Not connected enough to take true power.” dismissed Kamo. “And that harpy Koharu is the opposite, all clan tradition, no trust in civilians at all.”

“Okay, but what about the 2nd’s line, he had a team too, didn’t he?” Yashiro asked his old friend.

“Dead, dead and crippled.” Kamo frowned.

“Shame.” Ambidextrous Naomi was writing with both hands at the same time. It still freaked Obito out when she did that and managed to write down different things with each hand. Obito sometimes couldn’t talk and write at the same time.

“I never what to hear you speak sympathetically of Danzo again,” Kamo ordered uncharacteristically. “He was my superior during several medical experiments and autopsies. Never met a man so deluded in his own way of thinking.”

“And he hates our clan as much as his teacher did, may Tobirama rot in hell.” agreed Yashiro.

“Hear hear.” The Uchiha around the table all knocked their free knuckles on the table, not looking up from their work.

Obito rolled her eyes. “Okay, so the next generation then, their students? Why can’t one of them be Hokage now?”

“A fascinating mix of dead, worn out, crazy, crazy and dead, a traitor and missing in action.” Mai told her dryly.

“What about... her.” Obito’s eye twitched at the thought of the woman that had turned down Rin’s request for apprenticeship.

“Off drinking and gambling away her family money, pitiful Senji.”

“Sooo Jiraya then,” Obito suggested with an uncertain smile. The idea did appeal to her.

“That flighty civilian born pervert?”

“Minato-sensei was civilian born.” she protested. There was silence after that statement.

Naomi answered without looking up, “But both his teammates were clan born with good connections and he mar-”

Kofun threw a file at her. “Think fast.”

“-he made a huge impression during the war.” Naomi finished, catching the file on her head and balancing it without difficultly.

“What about the 3rd’s second team. The Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka?” Obito went back to writing out police reports from 7 years back.

“Sarutobi taught them for barely a year before they graduated to solo missions without him. They don’t count in the line of succession.”

“It sure carried enough weight to get them all high ranking jobs just under the Hokage,” Yashino noted sourly. “Interrogation head, Jounin commander and chief of supply coordination? High ranking jobs for a bunch of brats.”

“Now be fair. Those were all war appointments and they’ve done their duties well enough.” argued Kamo

“Then why can’t one of them be Hokage.” demanded Obito. “I just don’t think it’s fair that the 3rd can just appoint himself hokage again, he should give someone else a chance.”

“Politics doesn’t work like that.” Yashino told her. “Sarutobi still has a large amount of power and support from the village. After the attack, a familiar face is an assurance to the population. Even with Orochimaru, there’s no one alive who could match the 3rd’s grip on power.”

There was silence as everyone considered the situation. Obito continued her work, trying not to think how life would be if Minato was still alive. She’d have a job in the tower at the very least, enough power to rework the veteran fund to give everyone an extra rent break and a new medication fund. She’d swap Shisui and Inabi’s jobs, reopen the East station…

Rin would be alive, Obito thought longingly, if she was going to fantasise about a better life, Rin had to be alive. She’d be one of the heads in the hospital, on the fast track for director in a few years. She and Rin would meet for lunch every day and complain about the idiots they dealt with. Kushina would be in ANBU, just like she had always wanted and Kakashi…

Obito frowned as she turned to a new report. What would Kakashi be in a better world? He seemed to fit well in ANBU, getting less injuries and actually smiling on occasion when they got together. But Minoto-sensesi would never want any of his students in the black ops… Maybe border patrol or the diplomatic corps.

Obito chucked at the image of Kakashi in the unthreatening robes of the squads charged to negotiate treaty on the hokage’s behalf. Kakashi had gotten so tall lately, he’d need miles of white fabric to make a proper outfit. The image in her head morphed suddenly into Kakashi in the official robes of the hokage, formal hat, held up to hide his lower face. A jolt of energy went through her. Was it jealously? Wistfulness?

“What the hell,” she muttered to herself, shaking her head to clear the image. Two weeks into compound confinement and she was losing it.

 

 

Obito’s birthday arrived with little fanfare. She hadn’t expected much, bound to the compound and avoiding five different people. The small party her aunt insisted on throwing her was more endured than enjoyed. The only highlight was a large present taking up most of the room in Kamo’s study.

“Don’t think you’re work isn’t noticed and appreciated.” Izunami told her proudly, encouraging Obito to go up and remove the table cloth covering it. The rest of the party guests crowded around the door and watched excitedly as Obito approached the present that apparently most of the clan had put money towards. Her heart beat excitedly. Maybe it was a new leg? Or new weapons suitable for her skill sets. Some children got summons as birthday gifts and the millipede summons had once been promised to her.

Smiling Obito pulled the cloth off the gift to reveal a sewing machine.

It was a simple foot powered machine, on it’s own table. It was very shiny and new. Someone had thoughtfully threaded red cotton into the needle.

“Oh.” She said. “Oh wow.” Obito’s smile froze on her face. The room walls wobbled slightly and it was hard to breath. Her family waited eagerly for her response to such an extravagant gift. Most appliances had to be imported and were expensive before the import taxes were added.

“It’s just so unexpected.” She finally managed to say. She stared straight through the machine, trying not to see it. She swallowed and forced a less brittle smile, tears pricking at her eyes.

Thankfully her family accepted her reaction as a happy one and they pulled her away for cake and smaller gifts. Obito kept up her smile though the opening of other gifts; hand-me-down jewellery and clothes, a few restaurant vouchers and promises too take her out some time, racy underwear from Mai that Obito couldn’t actually wear with her shoulder… Obito spoke when she needed to and did not cause any fuss.

It was only after everyone had left and Kamo waved her away from the dirty dishes that she calmly went to her room, activated the privacy seals and screamed into her pillow for a very long time.   


  
  
It was depressingly easy to slip her escort. Obito just made sure she was late in being ready to go to her alleged appointment at the Hyuuga Household and that her escort Kofun was dying for a smoke before his shift of work.

“Look, I’m almost at the door, just go already.” Obito waved Kofun away. To give him credit Kofun did hesitate for a few seconds and scan the area for threats before nodding and walking away quickly. Obito waited until he was out of sight then turned and walked to the tree where Kakashi’s chakra was faintly emitting from.

“We’ve got three hours, I told Kofun I was invited to lunch too.” She said, tapping the trunk with her cane.

Kakashi jumped down, nodded to her and gently put his arms around her and body flickered them away.

 

 

“What are they?” Obito shook the bottle in confusion. “There’re not fish pills are they?” She looked at Kakashi's late birthday gifts to her with worry. She really couldn't handle another bad gift. And she didn't want to cause a fuss when Kakashi had just let her babble at him for ages, in his own flat.

“They’re what ANBU get for chronic pain,” Kakashi told her, “They’re safe to talk for a long period of time and have no dietary restrictions or side effects. I spoke with a medic, they should be safe for you to take instead of about half the painkillers you’re already on.”

“No way,” Obito stared at the bottle in disbelieve.

“You could even mix alcohol with them.” Kakashi said, “But please don’t.”

Obito put her hand over his. “I won’t need to drink if they really work.” She smiled at him. “I don’t need anything else after these.”

“Well,” Kakashi pushed forward the other gift he had for her, “It’s not really a gift, more of a return.”

Obito looked at him in confusion, then slowly unwrapped the small rectangular gift. She uncovered mostly blue fabric, the tough stretchy kind a lot of ninja clothing was made from. Slowly, with shaking fingers she turned it over to reveal the metal plate attached to it.

Obito’s eye filled with tears as she looked down at a much scratched, but intimately familiar headband. The one side of it was buckled and torn from the fabric. The rest of it had a dozen small scratches and dents, each one with a story Obito knew like she knew the scars on her own body. Gently she ran her fingers over the leaf symbol, still as beautiful as the day she had been given it.

Kakashi knelt down to see her face and looked alarmed, “I’m sorry. I thought- I have something else instead-”

She cut him off by pulling him into a hug. “It’s fine,” she told him smiling. “They’re happy tears. I- I thought it was buried with me. Or destroyed.” She hugged him tightly. “It’s perfect,” she said softly. “Best gift I ever got.” There was nothing implied in the gifts, no wishes or implications linked to her accepting them. Kakashi had just tried to give her something useful that she would really want.

Kakashi remained where he was, face under her hair by her neck, and made no effort to move. Obito didn’t mind. She hadn’t felt like holding anyone in her family since her birthday. There was too much they might think she meant by it.

Belatedly Obito registered Kakashi’s last words. “Wait, what other gifts do you have for me.” she demanded.

Hot breath on her ear gave her goosebumps as Kakashi sighed. Reluctantly he pulled away to look at her. “They were only if you didn’t like the first gifts.” he told her.

“But I want to know!” she smiled at him and fluttered her eyelashes.

Kakashi just looked at her with fond exasperation. Then his masked face took a more focused expression. Slowly he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Happy birthday Obito.” he said, pulling back and looking nervous.

Obito tilted her head. The corner of her lips tingled “Thanks. But I still want to know what else you got me.”

Kakashi’s face went blank, before he smiled at her somewhat sadly. “Maybe next year.” He got to his feet. “Do you want more tea?”

“Umm yes?” Obito looked up at him in confusion. She felt like she had just done something wrong.

“Something to eat?” Kakashi walked away from her towards the kitchen counter.

“Only if it’s take out. You don’t spice things enough.”

“Spice could hide poison, better to be used to eating without it.” Kakashi had his back to Obito, hunting for another mug in his sparse cupboard.

Obito looked down at her headband, traced the symbol once more then rolled onto her knees.  _Be brave_ , she told herself, _You were always so brave_.

Carefully she crawled around the table and came to stop behind Kakashi. She slowly stood up on her one leg. She needed to stand for this.

“You remember… that if you want me to know something you have to tell me.” She said softly. “I’m not good at picking up subtle clues about myself. If it’s important you have to tell me, not hope I can work to out.” She swallowed. “I always second guess myself.”

Kakashi sighed and put down what he was holding. Still with his back to her he stood and stared at the blank wall of the kitchen. Then, slowly, he raised a hand to his chin. When he turned to face Obito his mask was down.

Obito blinked. It was a nice face, she supposed. Fulfilled the potential it had had when they were younger, and Kakashi hadn’t mastered eating without exposing his face briefly to his teammates. It was comforting to see, along with his uncovered eye and inactivated sharingan.

Kakashi took a step forward and put his hands on her arms, taking some of her weight. Obito tilted her head up and let him lean down and softly kissed her on the lips.

After a moment he pulled away to look at her.

Obito looked at his concerned face, felt his fingers contract on her arms, getting ready to let her go. She licked her still tingling lower lip. She smiled and leaned up towards him, kissing Kakashi back.

It was such a soft kiss, so gentle and unhurried as they move together, that Obito almost regretted bringing her tongue into play. She just wanted a bit more wetness, to hide how chapped her own lips were. But Kakashi deepened the kiss, sucked at her gently, so it must have been alright. Obito’s leg grew unsteady but Kakashi’s grip moved to hold her closer. She found that for once she didn’t mind being picked up.

After a few minutes Obito pulled away, lips swollen and breath a little unsteady. “Wait I just want to check. So this means you likelike me right?” She blushed as she said it. But she had to be sure.

Kakashi sighed into her hair, kissing her shredded ear. “Yes, Obito. I really-” He kissed her scared cheek, “-really like you.” He kissed her mouth again and Obito’s eyes closed despite herself.

 _My family is going to kill me_. Where her last coherent thoughts for some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Lies down and screams into her own pillow*  
> Why do I let myself write these things?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even stuck in the Uchiha Compound Obito finds ways to make life exciting. No one is really happy about it, least of all Obito.
> 
> And when she gets a single day out she gets more questions than answers for her troubles.

 

In the first two months after Obito’s birthday her body had one final and very late growth spurt. A bit more height, a further widening of her hips and shoulders, and stretch marks on the few places her skin didn’t have scars.

“At least some of your pockmarks filled in too,” said Sakuya helpfully as they sat together in the side of the small clan sauna.

“But look at this,” Obito pulled up her towel to show her left leg, all the way up to her upper thighs. “Look at those lines!” She pocked the offending stretchmarks then gestured to the very top of her towel, where more stretchmarks now rested at the start of her breasts. “What is the point of all the stupid scar cream everyone makes me use when these are just going to turn up?”

“For a girl who refuses make-up or genjutsu most of the time, you seem very concerned with the state of your less displayed body parts.” Sakuya smiled in amusement as she blew at the coals in the corner of the bench. “Just be glad small breasts run in the family.”

“They seem way too big to me.”

“You could fit each one in a tea cup, that’s nothing.” Sakuya took on a longing note. “Now Sumiya’s breasts, those are the perfect size, they just fit into my hands. And they’re so-”

“Stop right there.” ordered Obito, “I’m all in favour of sexy details, but you are like my sister and I know too much about your love life already.” And she was madly jealous about Sakuya’s dates. Obito hadn’t seen Kakashi since they had shared their first kiss (and second and third and fourth, then Kakashi had kissed his way along her neck and she had tried to climb into his shirt and then their time had been up and Obito had to deal with panicking internally about this unexpected change in their relationship.

“You’re going red,” Sakuya said in a sing song voice. “Who are you thinking about?”

“We’re in a sauna, of course I’m going red!” Obito yelled, willing her blush to die down.

She hadn’t expected the thing with Kakashi, not at all. When he had kissed her, properly kissed her, she had been swept away on a flood of emotions and hormones, more related to her lack of action for over two years than any serious romantic feelings for him.

But looking back she could see that was not how Kakashi felt, if she was now reading their past encounters properly. Kakashi, Obito was fearfully certain, had deep feelings for her. He probably wasn’t going to accept something like a casual relationship or friends-with-benefits.

The gifts he had given her rested in a locked draw by her bed. She went to bed most nights tracing the headband with her fingers, occasionally working on her intricately designed scarf. These two things were often the only thing that quietened her mind to sleep without medication. The pills Kakashi gave her changed her life. Wedged in the bottle was a note from the ANBU medic, with clear instructions and warnings plus a dire threat of _wall duty_ _forever if you overdose yourself Hakate I mean it!_ The pills worked on whatever muscles you focused your chakra to and had no dietary requirements or side effects. No longer did she have to count hours between meals and pills, or choose between nausea and headaches or shoulder and arm pain. She used them sparingly and lived with the guilty feeling that she probably should share them with the other chronic pain sufferers. But they were gifts from Kakashi and she didn't want to share or explain. The whole thing was bound to end badly no matter what she did.

Obito was actually glad she was cut off from the outside world. Maybe by the time she had a new leg she would have worked out what on earth to do next.

 

 

 

 

 

Obito sat in Mikoto’s neat sitting room and watched as Sasuke showed off his newly learnt hand signs, "Ask me any one. Any one," The near three year old boasted cheerfully.

"Okay," said Obito doubtfully. "Rooster."

¨....not that one."

"Okay. Ox?" she said with amusement.

"No!" Sasuke stomped his foot. "You're asking the wrong ones."

"Oh really," Obito said in a sing song voice, knowing which signs he wanted. "Should I ask you for Snake?"

"Yes!" Sasuke made a sign that was vaguely right.

"And Horse?"

Another approximately correct sign.

"Goat?"

That one was right.

"And finally- Tiger!" Obito cheered as Sasuke made the final fire sign. "Oh you're going to be setting fire to things left and right soon!"

They ran through the seals together, Obito subtly correcting his mistakes, until Mikoto came in and sent Sasuke off to his room to go pick up his toys.

"You said you needed to speak with me?" Mikoto said, offering her a cup of tea.

"Yes, I've been putting it off for sometime-" Obito took a sip of tea, perfectly brewed, like everything Mikoto did these days, "Did you know Itachi was in a battle, before the war ended."

Mikoto's eyes widened fractionally. “What? That can't be right. I was out in the west front until long after the ceasefire was announced. Itachi was safe at home with Fugaku." The topic seemed to come as some surprise to her.

"He told me he'd seen battle and killed a man, when he was four." Obito said firmly.

"He probably meant in a genjutsu - or maybe someone shared their memories with him through their sharingan." said Mikoto, reaching out to adjust the vase of flowers on the table.

"That would still be disturbing if he was four at the time. But I'm sure he has been on a battlefield, has killed someone.”

Mikoto frowned. "There was a battle that got very close to Konoha, about four months before the end. Maybe Itachi went to look afterwords and stabbed a dead body? He's very intent on his duty of protecting Konoha."

"I know!" Obito put down her cup with as much force as she dared. "He skips school to train _more_ , for Sage's sake. I'm really worried about him. I don't know how to fix this situation, he's so bad at getting along with other children-"

"Well that at least won't be a problem for much longer." Mikoto said calmly, "He has been offered the honour of graduating early."

Obito stared at her.

"Fugaku will announce it at the clan meeting this month, and Itachi will graduate with the next wave of genin hopefuls in 3 months."

"But he's 8. He's 8 and shy and sweet and I don't think-"

"You're own teammate graduated at 6 and he came to no harm," Mikoto pointed out crossly, "You just said Itachi doesn't get along with his current classmates, older teammates will be just the thing to solve the problem.” She nodded to herself, and poured more tea.

A part of Obito's mind got caught up in trying to connect Kakashi to the words ‘came no harm’, a statement that rang as deeply wrong. But most of her tried frantically to get back to the matter she had come to discuss. "Let’s just get back to the kill at 4 shall we? I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think maybe some sessions with the Yamanaka-"

"The Yamanaka? He's 8, he doesn't need to talk about his feelings," Mikoto looked at Obito in disapproval, "You forget that less than a century back it was common for most children to go to war, not just the very best. If this story you have is true.”

"It is Auntie!" exclaimed Obito, "I saw it on his face, in his eyes. Itachi is like the war orphans we saw, after the war came to their village. He has the same," she gestured to her face wildly, "The same dead look, we just all missed it because he's always so serious and quiet. I'm afraid for him. I love him but he's not right."

For a moment Obito felt killing instinct directed at her and she feared for her life. If Mikoto wanted to kill her there was nothing Obito could do. Then Mikoto visibly took a deep breath and calmed down. The atmosphere lifted.

Mikoto spoke again after a long pause, "I’ve known you since you were 6 years old and you came to my wedding. I trusted you above all other genin to care for my son. I mourned you when you were presumed dead and I rejoiced in your return." She took another deep breath. "So I will excuse your words because I know they come from your heart. Not your brain." Her eyes hardened again. ¨But if you ever imply to me that my son, your clan heir, is defective, I will never welcome you into my house again."

Obito lowered her head in submission. "I didn't say he was defe- that word. I just think he needs help." Her voice was soft and pleading.

Mikoto looked at her, and Obito could so clearly see a squad captain of Konoha, one of the best swordsmen of her generation. Mikoto hide herself well with her dresses and soft smiles, but the Red Raven still lived in her bones.

"I thank you for your concerns." Mikoto finally said. "I will think on them." she lied.

Obito lowered her head as far as she could, submissive vessel to her merciful overlord. Round one of the battle went to Mikoto. But Obito was used to fighting from a position of weakness  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obito had avoided clan meetings before this. Most of the sensible family members did, since it consisted of a lot of pointless shouting and grouching, with Fugaku letting it all wash over him until he shut them down abruptly at the end. Kamo called it venting hour and said it was healthy to let all the petty grievances air for a bit.

But there were also formal announcements and decisions made there, like an early graduation. Obito prepared to speak her piece at the meeting, having spent time in the clan archives looking up early graduations and fatality records. It was morbid reading.

Kamo had said he would attend with her, but found himself very tired that evening, "I'll be a long in a minute," he said from his armchair. "Just give me a moment to prepare myself.”

Obito squeesed his shoulder, "I'll go alone. I just want to see how a meeting works."

At the crowded hall, she found a relatively safe spot next to Ema and behind Yashino. What followed was two hours of petty squabbles about work shifts, food rations, bathing times and guard duties. Inabi somehow managed to sneak in next to her and tried to catch her eye. Ema started smacking Obito's hands with her fan when Obito fidgeted too much, trying to get her knees into a comfortable position on her thin floor pillow.

"Finally: Itachi has been given the option of graduation early from the academy. Does anyone have thoughts on the matter they wish to share?" Fugaku's scowling face clearly said he thought no one should. Unfortunately for him the clan had many options on the matter. Most were for all it, since Itachi was clearly flagging in the coddled atmosphere of the academy. Others wanted their own children to get the same consideration. A few wanted to know how Itachi's wages would be handled, since children in their clan got their equipment and clothes for free but genin had to pay. No one mentioned anything about turning down the honour.

"Did- did they give any reason for offering Itachi such an honour?" Obito finally spoke out during a lull in the conversation.

A quiet started to settle around her.

"Have you seen Itachi fight? He's ready to go out there and earn his keep! Prove his name!" cheered someone from the back of the hall.

"But what does the academy get out of it? Why are they so keen to be rid of Itachi.” Obito waved her notes weakly as more and more stares were focused on her. "I've looked up early graduates for the past twenty years, and of the sixty or so children given early graduation, only 8 survived to reach chunin." She swallowed as the hall took an unnatural silence. "All but 4 early graduates were done in war time, when the village needed more soldiers. I just don't understand why we have to push Itachi so fast. He is an incredible warrior, a credit to us all. But there's no need for him to graduate so soon, to push him too hard. Can't he be a child for a little longer?" There was quiet after she spoke and for an instant she thought she had reached them. That they would listen to what she was trying to say.

“You were Kakashi Hakate’s genin teammate, were you not?" an older relative demeaned into the silence.

Obito breathed deeply. Somehow it always came back to Kakashi, “Yes elder, but only when we were both 10.”

“And he was far and away better than you, left you behind with every skill you learnt,” another relative promoted.

“Yes, but that’s not the po-”

“So tell me how his early graduation harmed Kakashi Hakate, that you would hold back our most talented child-”

“It's- its not something I can easily put into words-” Obito tried to continue her planned speech.

“Then I suggest you hold your tongue until you can explain your unreasonable demands!”

“It’s not unreasonable to want our clan heir to be properly socialised! How can he lead us when he can’t deal with his own peer group? How can we trust Itachi to work with the Hokage and other clan heads one day when he can’t handle being in a classroom?” Obito gathered herself and made her plea, “I know Itachi is talented, I know he is dutiful, I know he is physically ready to be a genin. But I don’t think he is emotionally ready. Why can’t we wait just a year or two. What’s the rush?” She looked around at the silent hall. “We’re at peace.”

As she finished, her clan, her family stirred and twitched, avoiding her eyes, communicating silently with their neighbours. An undercurrent of something else ran through the room, a situation or fact she had missed.

Fukugi held up a hand to cut off the meaningful silence, "I thank you for your frankness Obito. I know it was well meant. But you are young and no longer a shinobi, there are many facts and motives that you are not aware off. Does anyone else have something to add?”

Obito opened her mouth to scream, to beg, but Inabi’s hand on her arm made her turn. He shook his head, looking at her with sympathy. "They won't listen to you. You've done it all wrong confronting them like this.”

Obito stared at him, the start of tears in her eyes. "Why are we doing this? He's a child.”

"It’s not like it was with us, he won't be sent out to battle the next day. He'll hang around Konoha and do E-rank missions for months. It's no big deal." Inabi kept holding her arm.

Ewa reached over and smacked his hand away from Obito’s with her fan, "There’s no point in Itachi staying in the academy. He's raised a lot of fuss showing up the other clan's children and he’s experimenting with dangerous jutsu, best he’s safely under the control of a neutral jounin for a bit. He'll just be another genin for a while. Be good for him.”

Obito breathed. She had failed.

 

  
“You know,” said Inabi thoughtfully as they walked home together, "If you wanted more of a say in clan decisions, there is a way to raise your statues.”

Obito looked at him. “Grow a new leg and be a shinobi again?”

“Ha ha.” Inabi laughed, then looked at her seriously, “You know that's not possible right?” He checked worriedly.

Obito sighed. “Yes I do. Go on. How do I-”

Inabi grabbed the back of her head and brought his mouth to hers. His mouth was the same high temperature all their family ran at, his pushy tongue tasted of the tea they had drank at the end of the meeting. The inside of Inabi’s lips had the same burn scars all Uchiha children earned learning the great fire ball jutsu.

Obito willed herself to feel something other than irritation as she kissed back automatically. It would make life so easy if she just gave in. Married Inabi, gave him her votes, got more control and say over her own life. Her clan would reward her for falling into line. Treat her like a responsible adult. Kakashi would get over it and she could just bundle away all the overwhelming feelings she had for him.

Inabi pulled away with a smirk. "Marry me," he whispered.

_Punch him in the throat_ , Obito’s mind whispered in response. Falling into line had never been Obito’s strong suit.

  
“Inabi,” Obito wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I will always be grateful to you for bringing me home. But,” She brought her crutch down hard on Inabi’s foot. “No thanks,” Then she stormed off as he cursed.

She had her front door open when he caught up with her, ignoring the pain in his foot to give her a cajoling look, “I may have come across too strongly… let’s just talk about this calmly.”

Obito looked at Inabi and sighed deeply. “Just what do expect out of this relationship, really? I’ve made it pretty clear to everyone I don’t want to get married or have kids any time soon.”

“Yes but-” began Inabi.

“And I’m been assuming you’re not interested in a long engagement while you wait for me to be ready.”

“Yes. So-”

“So what are you doing here Inabi? Do you want advice on which girl you should be courting?”

“I’ve always liked you-”

“When we were little, you used to steal my sweets and tell the clan how badly I was doing in class…”

“We were kids-”

“And now we’re adults. And I’m telling I have no romantic feelings for you and no wish to marry anyone.”

“Then what do you want Obito?” Inabi interrupted losing his smile. “If you don't want kids and you can’t be a ninja, what are you going to do with your life?”

Obito had no simple answer to that. There was more to life than the shinobi way, she knew, but she wasn’t sure how she could live it.

“It’s fine if you don’t love me romanticly,” Inabi continued, “I don’t like you that way either. But I like your humour, your attitude-”

“My bloodline, my three council votes,” she interrupted mockingly.

There was a flash of deep irritation on Inabi’s face, before he smoothed it away “Yes that too, but I think this could be useful to you too Obito. Do you really want to spend your life as some crippled spinster, regretting your choices?”

Obito gave up on staying civil. “I’m sure if I do manage to make it to old age I’ll regret a great many things. But not this,” She slammed the door in Inabi’s face. “GET STUFFED INABI!”

“Is there someone else?” Inabi demanded through the letter slot as Obito stormed down the corridor away from the door. “Obito! Is it Mai? Osuma? Kofun?”

“Kofun’s gay, you utter moron!” screamed Obito, before noticing Kamo fast asleep in the arm chair she had left him in hours ago. All the arguing had failed to wake him.

She checked his pulse and breath. Slow, but strong. When she shook him awake Kamo opened his original eye, sharingan on. “Leave me alone Tessai-” he said sleepily and closed his eye again.

Worriedly she came back to the door and opened it to Inabi sulking on the front step. “Go get Daiki, something’s wrong with Kamo.”

To his credit, Inabi jumped up immediately and turned to go. “What should I tell him?”

“He was sleeping very deeply and mistook me for his sister when I shook him awake.” Obito’s hands shook. Memory failure was a bad sign in Uchiha. Their brains were hard-wired around long term memory retaining. What if it was her fault he was like this?

“Obito.” Inabi grabbed her hand. “I’ll be fast, just keep him warm.”

She nodded and shut the door as he shunshined away.

 

 

 

 

Kamo was alright in the end. Just old age creeping up on him. A few days of enforced bedrest made him cranky and demand permission to be let up to garden. Obito was grateful she didn’t have to leave him for long, able to get time off from the archives to sit and sew as Kamo pottered around the garden, directing unfortunate clan children on how to weed properly.

Kamo’s health scare meant Obito was given a break regarding her behaviour at the meeting, though she was unofficially given the impression that she shouldn’t turn up at any more of them for a while. Inabi acted like the whole evening had never happened and Obito was happy to play along.

The only down side to time off work was that she had less excuses to avoid babysitting.

“Just eat the carrots Iroaka!” Obito begged the five year old.

“I did! Those are Fuji’s carrots. She put them on my plate!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Okay!” Obito cut in, having no idea who was telling the truth, “What if we just divide them between you?”

“No!” both kids shouted.

“I like carrots.” Put in Gekko helpfully.

Obito’s eyes twitched. “Okay, I’m going to close my eyes and count to ten and I don’t care who eats them as long as they’re gone.”

Carrots devoured and children excused to play outside, Obito surveyed the messy kitchen and checked how many more hours she had till Izunami came home. Another three.

Just as she finished the kitchen someone came to the door. She palmed a knife reflexively. “Password?” she called, half jokingly.

“What password?” Yakumi responded. Obito didn’t put down her knife. She had successfully avoided being in the same room with Yakumi for months. Multiple women had assured her he was harmless while sober, but she remained uncomfortable around him.

“What do you want Yakumi?”

“You’ve been summoned to the hospital, there’s an escort waiting at the gates for you.”

“I’m watching Izunami’s kids.”

“So get someone else to do it.”

Obito sighed at this and then she put on her jacket and shoes, stuffing spare weapons into her pockets. “There is no one else, except maybe Mikoto.”

“She’s the clan head’s wife. She can’t babysit! Look open the door and I’ll watch them.”

Obito bulked at this. Intellectually she knew Yakumi had two kids of his own and was a good father to them. But her mind kept going back to the grope under the table at Niomi’s wedding. “Just go tell the gate I’m on my way.” She turned to the back of the house and yelled down to the garden beyond it. “Sweets to the first child ready to go for a walk!” A ominous rumble told her the challenge had been accepted.

 

 

 

 

15 minutes later, Mikoto was presented with three sugar high children in her neat home (in no way because to Obito wanted to remind her what children should act like…) and Obito got to the clan gates, and found Jirayia waiting for her.

“Why didn’t you let him in?” She asked the current gate guard.

“No non-Uchiha allowed in without an escort.” He said gruffly, avoiding her cross look.

“Since when?”

“Brat,” Jirayia interrupted, “We don’t have time, let’s go.”

“You have until dusk to return our child to us safely,” threatened the other gate guard, Setsuna, “See to it she comes to no harm”

“Uncle!” Obito smacked his arm, “Jiraiya is a sannin, of course I’ll be safe!”

“Bet a lot of people said that about his teammate,” the other guard said morosely. He grabbed her hand as she walked past and cast a genjutsu over her, hiding her scars and crutch, making a second leg appear out of her long green skirt. “Be cautious child.” He slipped an emergency whistle into her jacket pocket.

Obito smacked him too, then stormed away, grabbing Jiraiya’s arm as she passed him. Her family was impossible sometimes.

“By dusk Obito! Don’t be late.”

 

 

 

Jiraiya’s mission took them to the general hospital, in a basement wing Obito had never been into before. The wards were more sombre and there were more shinobi than nurses on duty at the work stations.

“Did you get anywhere with the scrolls I left with you?” Jiraiya asked as they walked through a security seal that popped Obito’s genjutsu painlessly.

“I’ve read a few to pass the time, but no serious studying.” Obito wrinkled her nose. “Most of the time the subjects are fairly tame, interesting even, but then takes on a creepy turn with no warning.”

Jiraiya nodded. “That sounds about right. Anything about curse seals on people?”

“A bit,” Obito hedged, “I found it more interesting than I’m comfortable, transferring your chakra into another person and all, but the end results...” She shuddered. “I like my own seals, weaker as they are.”

“That’s what I hoped when I gave them to you,” Jiraiya told her as they came to a locked door guarded by two ANBU. Obito’s mind twitched a bit, like she should know the Crane and Seal masked figures. But she didn’t recall ever seeing them before. They opened the door, let them both through and closed the door behind them.

A girl, of about Obito’s age scowled at them from her seat on a table.

“Okay Anko,” Jiraiya clapped his hands with a smile. “Drop the shirt and we can begi-” Obito got him right in the stomach with her crutch.

“You disgusting old man!” She spat at him, moving to put herself between him and the staring girl. “Don’t say things like that to young girls. Hell, don’t say it to anyone, it’s creepy!” She made a half serious attempt to hit her crutch between his legs, but he avoided that hit easily.

“You’re so violent Brat,” He muttered sadly, making a snatch for her crutch and missing widely. Obito realised he had been play acting the whole time, possibly to put their audience at ease.

Indeed the girl named Anko was watching them closely, her body language a bit less guarded than it had been when they entered.

Obito turned her back to Jiraiya and gave her a friendly smile. “Hi I’m Obito, what brings you here to deal with this gross man today?”

  
Hard brown eyes gave her an evaluating once over, taking in her scarred face, embroidered shirt under a crestless jacket and voluminous green skirt with only one leg and sandal emerging from the bottom of it. The heavyduty crutch, with scratches and dirt along most of it’s wooden parts also garnered a frank stare, before Anko finally answered her question. “I asked to see Master Jiraiya.”

“Seriously?” Obito looked over to Jiraiya, who was now at a far corner looking over a file of ex-rays and medical notes.

“I need his help to be put back on active duty.” Anko’s tilted her neck defiantly and pulled down the polo neck of the shirt she was wearing.

Obito registered the lean muscles of a shinobi, scared tan skin unused to being covered so much, then the large white medical patch, that failed to cover all the ink on Anko’s shoulder.

The small start of the curse seal at the top was enough for Obito to realise what Jiraiya had been called for. “Oh,” she said, looking at Orochimaru’s only surviving student, his twisted seal etched on her skin.

 

 

Examining Anko’s seal took about 15 minutes. Formulating a plan to block it off from her own chakra stores took over an hour, with Jiraiya ruthlessly ripping all of Obito’s suggestions apart.

Anko watched with quiet amazement as they went back and forth, insulting each other as easily as they complemented the growing plan.

“I don’t know okay? Is that what you want to hear? I have no idea what to do after you draw the Flowing Stream with a Single Blooming Lily. None.” Obito finally admitted, half drawn seals and arrays covering the table in front of her.

“The sages say true wisdom can only be achieved when you realise how little you know,” Said Jiraiya lofty, picking up one of her designs.

“Well I say true rage can be achieved when certain toad sages recite stupid proverbs!”

Jiraiya smiled at her and pulled out a seal parchment, seal already thickly inked on it. Carefully he brought up his ink brush and added a single extra character to it, Obito’s one good idea that he found useful to add. “We are now ready to begin.”

 

Anko was made to lie on her stomach, curse seal exposed. Jiraiya readied his prepared scroll, his ink and his brush. “Watch closely brat,” he said softly to Obito, standing ready with a waste bin, which she had covered in protective seals herself. “Watch with both eyes open,” He said twirling a finger at her.

Obito blinked, looked down at Anko, who was turned away from her and unable to see her face, then nodded and activated both eyes. Jiraiya grunted in approval and turned back to his task.

It took more time to prepare the skin, ink seals onto Anko’s back and shoulder, than the actual activating.

Anko screamed at the start, when the foreign chakra throughout her body was slowly gathered back into the curse seal. Obito’s sharingan spun as she took in Jiraiya’s hand signs and written seals, solidifying the chakra and dragging it to the surface of the skin as disgusting purple pus.

Obito wrinkled her mouth and held out the warded bin, for Jiraiya to direct the puss into. “Doing okay Anko?”

“Just get it all out!” she gritted. “Now.”

“Almost done,” Jiraiya said calmly, making a final set of hand signs. The ink characters he had written on to Anko shrank down to circle Orochimaru’s curse seal, and dried into permanent marks.

“There!” he sat down heavily on a chair. “”Wait girl, don’t move,” he said to Anko. “Brat come have one final look.” He beckoned Obito over.

Obito leaned closer, using the sharingan’s microscopic vision to it’s full extent. She deactivated them and shook her head. “There’s still some chakra left behind, in the curse seal itself. A lot but it looks trapped in place now, not flowing at all. How do you feel?” she asked Anko.

“Better,” Anko gingerly pocked the still bleeding skin. “Are you sure you can’t get it all out?” She pulled her shirt back on carefully.

“Not today, the effects of the draining are going to hit you soon,” Jiraiya told her as he went to scrub his hands in a small basin. “But now it can do no harm while we wait.” he scrubbed his ink covered hands hard with soap. “Try a simple jutsu, see how your chakra feels.”

Anko performed a basic henge jutsu transforming into Obito for a minute before changing back. “Feels low.”

“Your own chakra stores will return in time, maybe get Obito to look you over in two months.”

“What?” Obito and Anko exchanged looks of disbelief.

“Why did you think I brought you with with me?”

“Because you’re creepy and shouldn’t be left alone with an underage girl ever?”

“That’s what I thought too!” agreed Anko.

Jiraiya sighed theatrically. “I get no respect-”

The door of the room slammed open. Jiraiya had a kuni out and at the throat of the doctor in an instant. “I have this room booked for another half hour.” he said calmly.

“But you said nothing of bringing a helper.” A dry voice came from behind the frozen doctor. “Such breaches in security much be addressed, especially in this uncertain time.”

Jiraiya moved his hand and the doctor edged away, allowing one of the council members to enter the room as well.

Obito, who had reacted to the unexpected intrusion by dropping face down on the floor, dragging Anko with her, looked up at the bandaged face.

“What business does the Uchiha clan have here in the high security wing?” Danzo came to stand in front of her, cane inches from her face.

“You’re an Uchiha?” demanded Anko scrambling up and away from them both.

“So they tell me,” Obito muttered, struggling to her feet. She held out a hand to the scowling elder, expecting the fellow amputee to help her up. He recoiled from her fingers as if they were covered in poison, not ink.

“I wanted to have a record of the attempt,” Jiraiya told Danzo, coming forward to block his view of Obito, still on her knees. Obito grabbed his leg and hauled herself up onto her one foot, holding onto Jiraiya for balance.

“There are better qualified shinobi to do such things. A civilian has no place in such attempts.” Danzo’s one eye flickered briefly to the table covered in notes. “Why waste your efforts when I could have provided you with a trained seal student to take down notes, instead of spending so much time having to explain your actions?”

Obito opened her mouth to tell him that she actually assisted in the sealing and did know what was going on, but Jiraiya nudged her hard. “It was a spur of the moment decision, I didn’t want to waste time waiting for you to find a suitable witness when I could just grab a random one from the Uchiha’s.”

Obito moved back, away from Jiraiya, stung by the comment. Random witness? Was he ashamed to admit he was teaching her. Was she really that bad?

Anko passed her her crutch, while the doctor fussed over her shoulder. “So can I go back to active duty now or what?”

“You need more tests.” Said the medic sternly. “We’ll have to go to a better ward.”

“Want me to come?” Obito offered. “I don’t think I’m needed for this pissing contest.” Jiraiya and Danzo were still arguing, in a light tone with dark undercurrents. Obito got the impression that Danzo was not happy about Jiraiya’s presence, let alone Obito’s.

“Sure, why not.” Anko shrugged. Obito gathered the papers she and Jiraiya had used and followed the doctor supporting Anko around Danzo and Jiraiya and out of the room.

 

 

Later, after Anko was safely passed out in a normal ward in the hospital, under the watch of a stern nurse Obito knew vaguely through Sumiya, Obito made her way to the roof of the hospital, thanks to the service lift. It was the highest she had been up in a while and she smiled to see almost all of Konoha bustling beneath her. The sounds and smells made her feel more life than she had in a while, stuck in the quiet corner of Konoha with her kin.

She stood there near the edge a long time until Jirayia finally joined her. “So when do you leave again,” she asked him softly, as they stared out to the Hokage Monument.

“Tomorrow, Sensei wants me well out of the way when the Kumo officials arrive.”

“Shouldn’t you be around in case they try something?”

Jiraiya shrugged. “I do more good away than from within, don’t step on anyone toes or insult someone important. Sensei knows what he’s doing.”

Obito nodded reluctantly. She supposed you never did grow out of the belief that your sensei always knew better, even when you were in your fifties. She tilted her head up and stared at the sky.

Jiraiya came a bit closer and said softly, with a hand over his mouth, “Normal eyes can’t go so long without blinking.”

Obito immeditly blinked, “Is that how you knew?”

“I guessed and you confirmed it.” Jirayia nudged her, “Next time try denying it more, brat.”

Obito turned and smiled at him. “I would if it was someone I didn’t trust.”

Jirayia grunted and didn’t looked back at her, still staring out at the view. “You know...”

Obito looked at him eagerly, hopping for similar affectionate words.

“If you lean just right… you can almost see into the bathhouse.”

Obito sighed and slumped her shoulder. “You’re disgusting. I’m trying to have a moment with you.”

“Moment’s over, let’s get you home so I can go do research.”

“Research for what?”

Jirayia muttered something under his breath. Obito gave him a look. “You just want to go to the bathhouse. Can’t I stay here until you come back?”

“By yourself? Maybe I should just put up a sign saying ‘sharingan, free for the taking’

“If Kuma is in treaty talks maybe it’s safer now for me to go out alone?”

There came a snort of amusement from an empty space on the lift house. Obito wiped out a kuni and threw it up at the noise, another kuni in her hand seconds later.

The ANBU guard blurred into view just to show off their easy dodge of her kuni, then vanished again.

She and Jiraiya exchanged looks of amusement, “Was that a Rabbit mask?” Obito asked in disbelief. Jiraiya nodded. They shared wide smiles and in sync they began to sing the ‘Jakerabbit’ drinking song loudly.

After two verses the same ANBU reappeared, on the edge of the roof next to them. “Please go away.”

They continued to sing the exploits of a sex crazed rabbit intent on sleeping their way through the animal kingdom. The fact that all the animals were common ANBU masks was a coincidence. Or so all drunk singers would claim all over Konoha.

“This is a hospital, you are disturbing the peace.” the ANBU tried again.

“ _-with a chair and a_ _shield,_ _so watch your back when the Jackerabbit comes_!”

“I’ll deal with them.” A new voice announced. With white hair very visible behind a dog mask, the muffled voice was unnecessary for Obito to guess the identity of the newcomer.

“Why did they even bother giving you a mask?” Obito asked. “Are you even trying to hide your identity?”

“Do you know them?” Rabbit mask asked Kakashi, ignoring Obito.

“They are Jiraiya-sannin and his apprentice." Kakashi told them calmly.

“Apprentice is putting it strongly” Jiraiya objected.

“He has commitment issues,” Obito told Rabbit mask conspiratorially, too giddy to be offended.

“Just get rid of them.” Rabbit mask said wearily and blurred out of view.

“Sir,” Kakashi snapped off a razor sharp salute.

Jirayia came closer to him. “You got taller too,” he noted, while Obito lingered behind him and tried not to pay attention to the fluttery feeling in her stomach, “Glad to see the war rations are finally over.” He turned back to Obito. “Come one brat, time to go home.”

“They gave me until dusk,” Obito objected, not taking the offered hand.

“I’d take you drinking with me but we all remember how that went last time.”

“My shift ends in an hour,” Kakashi offered. “I could watch her then.”

Jirayia gasped theatrically, “Turn my apprentice over to a complete stranger?” Subtle movement suggested Kakashi was rolling his eyes in time with Obito.

“I thought apprentice was putting it strongly. And it’s gonna take me at least an hour to wait for the lift or to take the stairs.” Obito told him glumly, not really sure she was ready to face Kakashi alone. She thought she had more time to work out what to say.

“We can just shunshin down?”

“No we can’t.” Obito gestured around them, “There’s chakra blockers all over the place.”

Jiraiya looked at her with a frown. Then he sighed and looked at the silent ANBU figure. “The old training field in two hours. Bring food.” he ordered.

He held out his hand to Obito who took it cautiously. He used the shunshin to teleport them both away, as if the chakra blockers weren’t even there.

 

 

2 hours later, Obito opened another chakra barrier, made a bunshin to hold it open and used shunshin to go though the hole. As she reached the other side she sent a chakra string back behind her and burst the bunshin, dropping the seal wall back down as if untouched.

“You could just get the bunshin to dispel itself,” called Jirayia from across the field where he was setting up another wall.

“Let me have a bit of violence in my life.” Obito told him, putting a hand to a post to balance herself. A life time ago she had been tied to this post, bells held tantalisingly out of reach. It was oddly like coming home again, to be training here again.

“Well, if you really sure..” Jiraiya threw a paper seal at her.

Both sharingan activated, slowing down time for Obito and showing 9 possible actions to take. Of those 9, only 3 were possible for her skills and abilities. She formed a chakra string and sent it at the paper seal. If she could just manipulate the chakra string like thread, change what symbols were on the paper, she could deactivate the array harmlessly-

The seal exploded before it hit her, much bigger than it should have been. Obito’s jacket and seal embroidered shirt took the bulk of the force without damage.

“I meant to do that!”

“No you didn’t!” Jiraiya shouted back, throwing another paper seal. “Again.”

This time Obito just blew out a fireball, disintegrating the paper harmlessly. “Ha!”

“Alright, but what if I do this?” Jirayia threw a different type of seal at her.

Obito used shunshin to go back, once, twice, buying time as she tried to work out what it would do to her. Then she tripped and fell back, allowing the seal to hit her and envelope her in green fog.

“Obito?” Jirayia called, getting up and readying a mud jutsu to kill off the fog. “You okay?”

“Yeah fine.” Said Obito calmly, reappearing near him, holding the inactivated paper seal. “Did I guess right what the seal does?”

Jiraiya looked at her, then the still visible figure covered in fog. “You did. But you told me you were bad at genjutsu.”

“I am so bad at them, so very very bad. That’s the result of four months of concentrated effort, aided by my families loving support and torment.” She dispelled the genjutsu. “I get so bored old man, so very bored.”

“You two do know that bush is on fire?” Kakashi asked, emerging at the edge of the field, back in normal uniform. He had several plastic bags of takeout boxes. Both his eyes were uncovered, the inactivated sharingan open to the world.

Obito and Jiraiya turned to look at the fire they had ignored from a previous seal bomb. “It’s a green wood, it’ll burn out fast.” Obito said assessing the fire damage with a practised eye.

Jiraiya looked up at the sun, “Is it that late already, the baths will be closing soon!” He packed up his sealing kit, ruffled Obito’s hair and tried to take all the food from Kakashi. Kakashi glared at him and gave him one bag. “Come find me before dusk Brat, I’ll walk you home!” Jiraiya yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted in the direction of the springs.

“He does know the whole spying thing is creepy and unnecessary, doesn’t he?” asked Obito as he disappeared from sight. “He’s a sannin, women would take him seriously if he just approached them normally.”

Kakashi made a noise of disinterest, presumably directed at Jirayia. Obito felt the start of a blush as she realised how close he was standing to her. Should she hug him, kiss? Exchange a friendly handshake? Eye contact, eye contact was good.

She glanced up, just in time to see Kakashi looking away from her, just as awkwardly. That made her relax at bit.

“This is stupid, we’ve been relaxed around each other for months.” She reached out bravely to hold his empty hand. “Let’s just sit and talk for a bit, okay?”

 

 

 

They filled in each other on their lives the past few weeks. “Bandits, wall duty, pointless guard duty commissioned by the daimyo, more bandits and hokage bodyguarding,” Kakashi summed up blandly as he passed Obito more pork rolls.

“Babysitting, seal studies, archive duty, housework. Plus all my families drama to make it interesting.” Obito pulled a face. “I finally got it through Inabi’s thick skull I wasn’t interested in being his little housewife. And I got completely ignored when I tried to stop Itachi’s early graduation.” she put down her chopsticks. “Were you happy when you graduated? Itachi doesn’t get on with anyone in his class, but I can remember you at least played with us sometimes at break-time.”

Kakashi took a long drink of his water. “I only played in the games I could relate to training in some way. I couldn’t understand playing for the sake of just having fun. I knew there was a war on. I wanted to do my duty.”

_You were 6._ Obito didn’t say. _To who_ _did you_ _owe_ _duty_ _?_

She nodded instead and ate, unusually hungry, “How’s your eye doing.”

“Good, no chakra exhaustion this month. My team’s medic is convinced I’m hiding chakra pills from him and keeps checking my blood pressure.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice, that said he was actually fond of his medic teammate. That was good, Obito told herself, it was good Kakashi had new teammates to count on in the field.

“You could just tell him about the seal.” She suggested gently, “It’s not a secret.”

“I will tell him, but at the right time.” Kakashi told her placidly.

“The time when it’s most shocking for him and most amusing for you?”

Kakashi smiled at her fondly. “You know me so well.”

Obito looked down at her food, awkwardness back. _Say something say something,_ she chanted. “Where’s my crutch?” she blurted out, looking around.

Kakashi nodded towards it and shifted to get up, “Wait,” Obito took a breath, formed a chakra string in her good hand and threw it forward like a whip. Amazingly the string wrapped around the bottom of her crutch and allowed Obito to drag it across the grass into her reach.

“Where did you learn that?” Kakashi asked her as Obito dispelled the chakra string.

“Prison.” she said quietly, patting the crutch. She changed the subject, “Do you need me to refill your seal since you haven’t told anyone else about it?”

“You don’t have to, that not why I came here.”

“It’s fine, I use my chakra for so little these days.” She reached out her hand and Kakashi obligingly leaned forward into it. The seal felt the same and eagerly took her offered chakra, filtering through the mask. Obito avoided Kakashi’s eyes, uncomfortable with his soft gaze.

_How did I miss this_ , she thought with embarrassment.  _How do I not screw this up_?

When the seal was fill she kept her hand were it was and gathered herself to speak.  _You can do this._  she told herself.  _You can talk to him about-_

There came a sudden rustling of bushes, a burst of unfamiliar chakra.

Kakashi grabbed her waist and teleported them, reappearing in a tree some distance away. Obito fell back against the thick trunk of the tree, Kakashi crouched over her, kuni out and scanning the ground beneath them. An ignorant genin continued to search the posts and grass for discarded weapons.

Obito looked from the genin eyeing the still smoking bush with confusion to Kakashi still poised to defend her from any angle. The ridiculousness of the situation, of how childish the ANBU member was being made laughter well up in her throat, threatening to spill out into sound.

With Kakashi’s face so close to her own, was easy to see when his face changed from mission blankness to embarrassment as he realised how badly he had overacted. His eyes flickered around, avoiding her laughing ones. There was a faint blush on his skin, half hidden by his mask. He pocketed the kuni and cleared his throat, their breath mingling.

Her laughing eyes met his embarrassed ones, both becoming serious when they realised how close they actually were, Obito against the trunk and Kakashi against her.

_But- my breath probably smells._ Obito though irrationally, even as she raised her chin and opened her mouth to met Kakashi’s uncovered lips.

He didn’t seem to mind the smell or any lingering taste from their meal as he kissed her slowly, politely probing his tongue gently at her lips, waiting for her consent to deepen the kiss.

Obito reacted by fisting her hand in his flack jacket, turning her head for a better angle and kissing back harder. Kakashi’s teeth were sharp to her tongue, and his mouth tasted vaguely metallic, like the leftover taste of holding kuni between her teeth. _Dangerous_ , a part of her purred a warning, _very dangerous_. She bit his lip gently, with her blunter canines.

SNAP

She pulled away abruptly to look up at the sound. The branch Kakashi had been holding onto above their heads had snapped in his grip.

They looked at each other panting slightly. Obito couldn’t help but laugh at his startled look. Kakashi loosened his grip on the branch and let it fall harmlessly to the ground below, frowning at her “Stop that.”

Obito wrinkled her nose at him, covering her mouth to keep her laughter in.

“It’s not that funny.”

“It’s just as funny as you overreacting to a genin wondering through the undergrowth.” she told him, still smiling widely.

“It was completely reasonable to assume the worst.” Kakashi crossed his arms. “There have been in increase of stealth invaders. Some have made it into the inner walls before being caught.”

Obito stopped laughing. “What? I thought Kumo was entering treaty talks?”

“It’s not just Kumo whose against us. They’re just the only ones to openly attempt to take our bloodlines.” Kakashi reached up to tap his left eye. “I’m no longer allowed anywhere near Kumo land.”

“Well you’re not exactly disguised in your ANBU getup.” Obito pointed out, tentatively leaning to the side to use some smaller branches to lean on. Her leg was starting to hurt form all the standing she had done that day. “Seriously, a dog mask and your real hair in display? What’s the logic behind that?”

Kakashi’s hands came up to her hips and carefully helped her sit onto a sturdy branch. He remained standing on the original one they had landed on. “When I joined there was the assumption that I’d stay in the shadows mostly and avoid being seen while on duty. There was not real point in hiding my identity within the ranks.” He kept a hand on one of her hips, not really focusing on Obito herself, “I was too short to really merge with the rest.”

“Yeah, you were what 15 when you joined?”

“...13.”

“What!” Obito’s just managed to keep her voice low, though she hoped her facial expression carried how shocked she was. “But wait, if you were 13...” she calculated slowly, unsure of her maths skills. “...Minato-sensei was still alive then.”

“Yes.”

“He let you join the black ops?”

“...he recommended I join.”

Obito stared at him. This was a joke right? She leaned forward and put a hand to his neck looked closely at his bared face, hoping to see some hint that it was a lie.

Kakashi looked at her seriously, face devoid of mirth.

“Minato-sensei made you join the baby killer ranks. At 13?”

He shrugged and tried to put his mask back on. But Obito held onto a corner of it, preventing him from hiding his face. “Why would he force you to do that. And so young.”

“It put me under his direct control. No one else could command me outside of missions. He wanted me close after- after everything.”

“I guess I didn’t really think about what happened during the time between- the end of the war and the attack. It’s all mixed together in my mind, a three step attack in one go.” Obito leaned her head against her hand on Kakashi’s chest. “Was it awful, joining ANBU?”

“It was work. It kept me busy, motivated.” He hesitated, “It wasn’t all bloody missions, some of them were- nice.”

“Really,” Obito lifted her head to blink at him, “What where they?”

A flash of pain flickered across Kakashi’s bare face. “Classified.” He kissed her forehead softly. “Sorry.”

Obito blinked in confusion. Why would nice missions make him look so miserable. “Okay. But maybe you should think about changing your mask or hair? You can’t still be the shortest.”

“No, but I’ve out grown so much armour lately that the quartermaster will maim me if I request a new mask and a wig.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Maybe the cost of new armour  will make them think twice before letting another kid in into the ranks.” Obito looked at him seriously. “I’m sure Minato-sensei had his reasons, but ANBU is no place for children.”

Kakashi looked her, the same flicker of pain as before.

“What’s wro-” But Kakashi was kissing her again so she gladly gave up her questions. Couldn’t have been that important anyway. As Obito moved her knees, letting Kakashi move in closer to her, she pushed her worries about their relationship behind her in her mind. She would just see how it went, where it lead. What was the worst that could happen? 

 

 

 

Eventually they separated and came down from the tree, Kakashi watching anxiously as Obito insisted on climbing down by herself. Four of his dogs were summoned and sent off to find Jiraiya and bring him to meet them further into the village.

"So," Kakashi reached to pull his mask up up then visibly restrained himself. "I know you're family is always talking to you about... marriage."

"If you propose to me I will set you on fire and take your dogs as my own." Obito warned him as she picked through a handful of leftover food from their picnic.

"No. I wasn't going to do that. Not at all." Kakashi clarified quickly, "I really don't want you marrying anyone."

"That's the sweetest thing anyone has said to me all day." Obito told him earnestly, dropping the food to reach up to pull him down for a kiss. But he turned away, looking serious.

"We need to talk about this. While we have the time."

Obito ignored his brush off and kissed his neck instead. "You don't want me marrying or kissing or non-platonic cuddling anyone but you from now on. Is that what you're trying to say?"

Kakashi gave up turning away from her and moved to kiss her back.

Obito put up a finger to stop him, "I'll let my other lovers know by tomorrow."

"What." Kakashi pulled away from her.

"I'm kidding." Obito told him, a bit alarmed at his hurt face. "I'm kidding." She put out a hand for him to take.

Kakashi frowned at her and reluctantly took her hand. "I'm trying to be serious. I don't know when I'll see you again."

"I can't keep growing forever. I'll have to be done and have a new leg by the war anniversary." Obito smiled at him. "Keep that day open and we can meet up after the memorial. I'll work something out. And uh," she paused, trying to say her request nicely, "You might have picked up that my family doesn't really like you. We should probably keep this," she gestured between them with her free hand, "Between ourselves. It's less complicated that way. No explanations or justifications needed. No one is gonna be happy about us."

He looked at her seriously. "I am not ashamed of you." He moved forward and kissed her forehead.

Obito smiled. "Okay. That was the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in weeks."

 

 

It took 6 of Kakashi's dogs to drag Jiraiya away from the bathhouses and onto the road leading back to the Uchiha compound. He gave them a faintly suspicious look, but Obito and Kakashi had already done their goodbyes and looked back at him in wide eyed innocence. Kakashi left without a back glance, while Obito waved at him.

Jiraiya was quiet as they walked home. Obito filled the silence with humming, not really thinking about anything. It had been an unexpected great day.

"You do know what ANBU life expectancy is 6 months," Jiraiya finally said as the rounded the last corner to the gates. "Kakashi is gifted, but it will only take one strike to kill him."

"I know that," Obito said placidly. "And I will know, straight away," she tapped her eye, "if the worse should ever happen." They stopped in few of the gate guards. "Thanks for the day out- Sifu," she walked through the double doors, ignoring the sputtering denials behind her. Nothing could take away her good mood tonight.

Mikoto was standing in wait between the gate guards when Obito returned. Her face was stern and the bottom of her dress muddy and wet. Something red was stuck in her hair. Further behind her, Sasuke was sobbing and covered in mud, being comforted by Teyaki and Uruchi next to their restaurant.

“Welcome back,” Mikoto said frostily. “I trust you had a lovely time.”

There was no safe way to answer that so Obito asked instead, “How were the kids?”

Mikoto’s face froze even further, “It was an experience. Kamo has kindly invited Sasuke and myself to dinner.” She pulled out a bucket filled with cleaning supplies and hung it on the top of her crutch handle. “You have three hours to get my house tidy again.”

Obito’s good mood faded away, as if it had never been.

 

 

 

“Well,” Mariko stepped back and deactivated her eyes. “I’m sorry to say-”

Obito looked at her worriedly. It had been a tense 4 months of confinement and her nerves were stretched thin. She loved her family and most of her family loved her, but the lack of space, the lack of time when she could just be Obito, not Obito Uchiha; that was tiring and lonely. Mako slept more and more these days, she was sure it was out of boredom. If she could just be allowed out, they could go for walks, see old friends and sites.

“- that this is as tall as you will ever get.”

Obito’s smile stretched across her face. “Really?”

“You haven’t grown at all in a month and most of your growth hormones have died away.” Mariko gave her a returning smile, “We can measure you for a new leg now if you wish.”

“Yes!” Obito cheered and opened her arms for a hug.

Mariko made a show of reluctantly coming forward to be enveloped in a warm squeeze.

“Thank-you,” Obito said quietly, “For everything,”

“I’m just doing my job.” Mariko told her, letting her arms come around to briefly hug Obito back. “If you let me go I can get my measure-”

“Mother!” Neji ran in, training clothes sweaty and askew, left cheek swelling alarmingly. “Father won’t continue until my chakra is restored, please heal- what are you doing?” he blinked in confusion as his mother left Obito’s embrace.

“It’s called a hug, kid.” Obito told him as Mariko knelt to examine his cheek.

“The chakra node is torn,” Mariko said softly. “I’ll have to use medical jutsu to fix it, how did this happen?”

“I was unprepared for how fast our son is,” Hizashi said ruefully as he entered and closed the door of Mariko’s home office behind him, “I reacted instinctively, instead of just letting him hit me.” He bowed low to his wife. “It was my mistake and I won’t let it happen again.”

Mariko’s lips thinned as she stood, but before she could say anything Neji spoke again. “It was so cool Mother!” Neji told her earnestly. “I went ‘strike’ ‘strike’, ‘side swipe’ and-” he acted out the actions as he talked, “Then father went ‘hithithit’, and I was on the floor like that!”

Over his head Mariko and Hizashi held each other’s eyes having a silent conversation.

“Neji!” Obito called from her forgotten corner seat. “Come here and show me your footwork, you were having trouble with it last time I saw you.”

“Oh, that’s easy now.” Neji said coming to stand before her, “You just have to go-” he demonstrated a set of kata he had been learning last week. Obito made impressed noises as Mariko and Hizashi quietly talked at the other side of the room.

“Your eye veins are very swollen. Do you want some eye cream?” Obito offered her usual pot of cream.

Neji carried on explaining the details of his new skills, but came up to her and lifted his head for her to dab cream on his injuries cheek.

Obito looked at his parents worriedly. Usually only the closest of family reached near each others eyes in a dojutsu family, especially children.

But Hizashi waved his hand at Obito, not looking up from his conversation with his wife. The man had only spoken with Obito twice before this and he was fine with her near his son’s precious eyes. Obito should have felt slighted as being seen as so harmless, but instead she felt a burst of pride. No one else in her family had ever been allowed into the inner rooms of the Hyuuga house before.

Obito gently dabbed cream on Neji and tried to get a word in, “So what do you like to do when you’re not training?”

Neji gave her a look. “I like training.”

“Yes, but when you’re not training. What do you do?”

Neji scrunched his mouth in concentration. “I like watching birds.”

“Really? I like those green ones with the loud calls like laughter.”

They chatted about various birds until Mariko called her son over to heal his cheek.

Hizashi came closer and bowed to Obito, “Lady Uchiha I apologise for interrupting your appointment.”

“It’s fine. Neji is a sweet child.”

“Yes he is- but talented too,” he fell silent as they watched Mariko with her son. “Too talented.”

Obito swallowed. In the Hyuuga clan talent meant strong eyes, which meant- “They’re gonna seal him soon. Aren’t they?”

“Before the Kumo officials are allowed anywhere near our home. All children able to walk will be sealed.” Hizashi sighed lightly, “I knew it would happen, but so soon?”

“Speaking as someone whose been under house arrest for months: maybe try and think of the freedom Neji will get now. Your children never leave home until they’re sealed. Just think how much you’ll enjoy showing the village, the whole world to Neji.”

Hizashi laughed, a bitter short laugh. “Your family really doesn’t tell you anything, do they?”

Obito looked at him in offence, but Hizashi waved off her objection, “I mean you no disrespect, but I will offer you a piece of advice: if ever an elder offers to seal your eye, be they Hyuuga, Uchiha or Konoha Council; refuse point blank. You’d be safer out of the village, but in constant danger at home.”

Obito stared at him and was about to demand to know what the hell he was talking about, but Neji came over and tugged at his father’s hand, urging him to return to the dojo. Hizashi left with another bow and no further explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worried something might be confusing:  
> Yoshino Uchiha: nice old man, millipede summoner and friend of Kamo, (engaged in an affair with a Abrume of interminable gender with his wife's enthusiastic support)  
> Yakumi Uchiha: 30 something divorcee with two kids, generally okay policeman. Will grope anything with breasts after a few drinks.  
> This will be more relevant in the next chapter 
> 
> Your comments are the only thing that kept me going on this chapter. Please tell me anything you want about this chapter. Please point out any mistakes you spot. I think I've spelt Jiraiya's name about three different ways...  
> So much to squish into the last chapter, before part three of the series (in which Obito finds out about you know what and shit goes down.)  
> Also I am serious bad at writing romance and fight scenes and spelling in general. Why am I doing this?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know things are bad when a kidnap is the highlight of your month. Obito shows off what she's learnt on the battlefield and off it, unexpected allies turn up amongst the ranks and a startling discovery turns everything she's learnt upside down.
> 
> AKA the thing you wanted finally happened, but not at all in the way you want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I both love this chapter and hate it. All the cool things I saw in my head, forced out into text very badly.
> 
> Thanks so much for all your comments. I'm going to do a few drabble pieces to celebrate finishing this part. Let me know which character you'd like to see the perspective of or a scene you'd have liked to have seen in the story. Please enjoy. 
> 
> (Also note I changed the previous chapter slightly and took out the rape references. I decided they depressed me too much.)

It had been 5 months since Obito had outgrown her prosthetic leg and been forbidden to leave the Uchiha compound. The only time she ever left the clan grounds was to go to her biweekly clinic visits to the Hyuuga compound (when her family could be bothered to find an escort for her, that had gradually become a problem as the weeks went on) and the one day she had had out with Jiraiya. Obito had started to think it had all been a wistful dream, that she was going stir crazy and hallucinating. Had she really been to the hospital, the training field. Had she really been in Kakashi’s arms a month ago.  


Obito dropped another pile of academy admission documents onto Ranma’s desk and fixed her with a determined stare, “My leg was ordered 6 weeks ago. Where is it?”  


Ranma didn’t even look up from her work, “It’s on it’s way, you’re just not a top priory, there are active shinobi who need help more than you. Just be patient. And file this for me would you?”  


Obito took a breath and held her ground. “My first leg came in two weeks! Why is it taking so long this time?”  


“I’m not privy to how the prosthetic department work. I just know we sent in the order, paid for it and now all we can do is wait.” Ranma waved a scroll under Obito’s nose, still not bothering to look up at her “What kind of handwriting do you call this?”  


Obito flinched but kept her voice self righteous,“It’s the best I can do with a toddler in my lap and another pulling at my arm!”  


Ranma finally deaned to look up at her, old face indignant. “Why did you do your work while there were children around? You’re paid to make reports not play with children.”  


“I’m paid a pittance and there are always children around. Since it’s been over a year since I set a kid on fire everyone thinks they can just dump their spawn with me.” Obito’s felt herself lose her energy to fight further. She tried one last attempt for a bit of freedom. “If I was allowed out of this compound I could work undisturbed in a tea shop or something-”  


“If you’re being paid a pittance then how can you expect to pay for a meal at a tea shop?” Ranma shoved the document back at her. “Do it again.”  


Obito stared at her, anger and sadness warring in her heart. For a moment she felt the overwhelming urge to scream right back into the wrinkly old face. “Yes elder,” she said quietly instead and hobbled back to her own small workspace. She just didn’t have the energy to fight.

 

 

Obito took an early lunch break to get out of the dusty basement and into the relatively fresh air. The compound wall prevented a truly fresh breeze from blowing through the main square, but Obito put her jacket on over her clan shirt anyway. The area was quiet, everyone else out at work or sleeping off their night duties. There had been a drug raid the night before, with anyone vaguely useful out helping deal with the aftermath at the north police station. Obito looked longingly at the open gate of the compound and the backs of the two elderly guards on duty. If she ran between them, just past the chakra wards she could shunshin away before they caught her and-  


She sighed and limped away towards the small park within the compound. Even if she did make it out, she’s be back in the compound and probably under house arrest before the day was done. There was no point. No point to anything really. She put a hand to the stupid compound wall, feeling it’s seals ripple through her own chakra system. She could get out so easily, no one would ever know-  


But she made a promise to Mariko, to Kakashi. She just had to wait a little bit longer-  


The wall seals rippled again, as if someone was battering it from another spot. She frowned, readjusted her crutch and walked on along the inside of the wall, hand still against the wall. Probably just kids throwing stuff against the walls again. She’d join in, even if it was against the rules.  


The first cut off scream told her she could be wrong. Obito pulled out a threaded needle from her high collar and pricked the back of her hand, letting the blood drop onto her jacket sleeve. The Mistletoe-in-Birch seals stitched into the hems of her jacket activated and linked with the wards of the wall. Obito was now a part of the wall’s seal network, impervious to attacks by jutsu and physical force. She pinned her needle to her shirt and walked faster, towards the sound. It was probably just children getting out of hand on the playground.

 

 

The children crouched behind her were crying, but they did it silently as Obito focused her attention on the remaining enemy invaders in front of her. The wall seals extending over her prevented the four Uchiha from being hit by any of the unknown nin’s jutsu or physical attacks. But it meant Obito was stuck there while Chikai was being held hostage by the last two would-be abductors. Obito narrowed her eyes, deliberately not looking at Ema’s bleeding body lying with another invader’s corpse. Obito would not let her sacrifice be in vain.  


“D-don’t move!” The shinobi holding Chiaki said. He was the more nervous one, standing with Chiaki in front of him, a kuni to her throat. Chiaki was crying, her pretty made-up face scratched up. The other nin was cautiously going towards Ema’s body, after her eyes. They wore no identifying headbands, not even crossed out ones. They had to be shinobi from their attacks, but which village was a mystery Obito would dwell on later.  


“There are more on their way!” Obito yelled back. She had been setting off the alarm seals in the wall since she first spotted the intruders three minutes ago, “Just let her go and you could still escape.” She lowered her empty hand to her side, making herself less threatening. She bent back her arms in a painful move, letting her jacket slide down off her shoulders. If she had to move, she wanted the jacket to remain behind to keep the kids safe with it’s seals. “You’re the last ones, you have no backup, just let her-”  


“Shut up!” The kuni came up to Chiaki’s weeping right eye. “You ruined everything you cripple, I should kill her and be done.”  


“No!” Obito’s shout was echoed by the sobbing children behind her, “You came for the sharingan! Let her go and you can have me!” she activated her original eye, praying someone was on their way. The nins wore shaded glasses, preventing her from catching them in a genjutsu. She didn’t have much of a plan-  


Chiaki had opened her eyes slightly, they were far redder than any amount of tears could make.  


Obito’s sharingan caught Chiaki’s newly activated one for a single synchronised revolution of their tomiki, Obito transmitting her plan and exactly what she needed Chiaki to do.  


The other nin turned over Ema’s corpse and started to slash out her eyes. His partner kept his eyes focused on Obito’s. “Don’t try anything. Drop the stick!” Obito did so with comment. Her crutch fell abandoned to the side. Her jacket fell off her and landed on Iroaka’s legs right behind her, shielding the other two. Obito was now unprotected, but they didn’t know that.  


“Step away away from the children!”  


“I have one leg, I need to crawl!” She lowered herself to her knees “Just loosen your grip, you’re choking her!” Obito moved a few feet away from the sobbing children, hands dragging on the dirt.  


“Yui, stop corpse robbing and get her-” The second the nin turned his head to yell at his accomplice, Chiaki lunged left with all of her strength, forcing him to turn, exposing his right elbow for Obito to grab as she used shunshin to teleport forward. Obito slammed the rusty kuni she had scrounged from the dirt into his unprotected neck, killing him instantly. Morons had attacked children on an Uchiha playground. Like there weren’t weapons all over the place.  


The last attacker was already running for escape, Ema’s eyes in his hand. Obito flung out a chakra string, caught him by the leg and dragged him back.  


Chiaki charged him, screaming with rage. Obito lost her balance and fell back, releasing the chakra string. But Chiaki had already let loose a giant fireball, right on the invader, enveloping him and her mother’s eyes into flames.  


“We needed him alive,” Obito muttered as she pushed herself up, while Chiaki fell to her knees by her mother’s body, wrecked with sobs. “How many were there? Chiaki! Focus girl, focus!”  


“Just three, Mom- Mom killed one before they- before they-” Chiaki was lost to her grief, clutching her mother limp hand.  


Obito scanned the area around them, going back to the kids to make sure they stayed where they were under the barrier’s protection. They were silent with shock and nodded when she told them not to move. She turned her attention back to Chiaki.  


“There will be more! You’ll have to grieve later, Sweetheart. Get over here and help me defend the others!” She shouted back to Chiaki. She saw something in the corner of her eye. Obito used kawarimi and swapped places with Chiaki, just in time to take the poisoned senbon in her arm instead of Chiaki’s throat. Obito had just enough strength to form a set of hand-seals at the gaping Chiaki and kids, solidifying the barrier seals so they couldn’t come out after her, before she fell limply to the ground.  


She could hear the kids screaming as her vision blurred. “You can’t get them now,” she managed to say.  


“They’re not who we’re after-” Obito passed out before she could even look up at the speaker.

 

 

Obito woke with a gasp; tied up, blindfolded and something awful under her nose.  


“She’s awake.” An unfamiliar voice above her announced and the bad smell faded away.  


“Good. Check the eye.” Even as she tried to raise her head Obito’s training kicked in, cataloguing details. Two nin, chunin level by the feel of their chakra, one by her side, another above her, possibly in the tree she felt against her back. Thin papery bark, strong smell from the leaves, dry loose dirt getting into her single shoe. She was north of Konoha, probably North West.  


Her chakra felt sluggish and heavy. Not like she had been drained of it, but drugged. She wanted to sleep.  


Obito rolled her bad shoulder as much as the ropes (thin, braided material, tightly binding her hands together in front of her) would allow. She needed the pain to focus. Her arms and legs were bound as well, leg stump bare to the air as if they had cut away her right trouser side.  


A cup was pressed to her lips. Obito clenched her teeth and lips together.  


“It’s water, drink!” Her nose was pinched closed.  


Obito held out until her lungs burned for air, then opened her mouth fractionally. Most of the water fell down her front and the small amount she tasted was lukewarm and stale, as if it where from a tin flask.  


“Well this one’s well fed.” There was a hand on her wet chest, feeling over her shirt. Obito leaned down and bit down hard.  


“Fuck!” She got hit by another other hand once, twice, then finally had her hair gripped and knocked back against something (wooden sound as her head hit it, rustling sound above her: pine tree) and held until the other hand could be pried from her teeth. She got a smack to the mouth that made her false teeth sting.  


“Don’t damage the head! They want her brain and eye intact!” Other voice from high above, strong Western twang to their voices – they were from Iwa or Kusa.  


Obito was too angry to panic. She gathered as much of her sluggish chakra as she could, channelled it to the seal under her arm and set off the strongest chakra pulse she could muster. Kakashi and her family would be able to feel it in their eyes if she was still within Fire’s borders and feel which way her chakra was coming from.  


“She’s doing something with her chakra! Knock her out!” The voice from above called down. She must be sensor of the group then.  


“I need to confirm we have the eye!” The blindfold was removed from her right eye, sudden light not making her flinch at all. But all Obito could see was a her own sharingan reflected back to her in a small mirror held right up to her face, making any jutsu impossible.  


“Oh yeah, there’s the money maker.”  


Obito fought to get her head out of his grip, to try and see around the mirror and do something to help herself. She managed one more frantic chakra pulse before she felt a senbon press into her neck and blacked out again.

 

This time she came to consciousness face down on the ground, face pressed into her Uchiha high collar from what she could feel and smell. There was now a gag in her mouth, along with the rope still on her legs, arms and fingers. Multiple voices argued above her, seven in a rough circle. Three of them had high levels of chakra, jounin for certain.  


“I’m telling you Ame has the money! I don’t know how but they are throwing money around for high level dojutsu user!”  


“I’m not risking treason on rumours of riches! We’ll get A-level pay for this mission plus the bounty on a sharingan!”  


“She’s got two eyes. Do you think maybe we could sell the other before we reach base?”  


“No one is going to buy an eye without seeing it work first, and no one would be stupid enough to give another sharingan to a cripple. I’m surprised Konoha didn’t take out her other one too!”  


_Fuck you._ Obito thought firmly, gathering her chakra.  _Fuck all of you._  She let off a chakra pulse again. Then another. She moved her face slightly against the shirt collar feeling for the razor blades most Uchiha shirt had in their collars.  


“She’s awake.” One of the voices said. Sounded like the team sensor again.  


“Unlikely, the dose was right for her size.” When someone put their fingers to Obito’s neck, feeling her pulse, she let her neck roll naturally to the side, exposing the tiny cut the hidden razor blade had made in her blindfold. She now had a pinprick of vision for her left eye. The eye they had assumed was normal and thus not tapped down or covered very well. Now if only they had taken off their sunglasses...  


The sensor leaned over Obito to feel for her pulse. Her bare eyes flickered over Obito’s for a second. It was just enough for Obito to capture her in a simple genjutsu. **Steady pulse. Intact blindfold.** she projected hard, tomiki spinning. **You are feeling a steady pulse and seeing an intact blindfold.**

“Nope, she’s still out of it, false alarm.” The team sensor let go of Obito’s neck, dropping her face down again. The razor blade was now against her check. Tentatively Obito leaned into it, getting her cheek cut by the blade but also slicing the bottom of her blindfold.  


Above her the arguing ended with the agreement that one of them would at least find out the asking price for a sharingan from the black market and compare it to the mission pay before they handed her over.  


_5 000 000 ryo._ Obito thought grimly, _Lower than a byakugan but higher than any other body part you could easily transplant._ She was very aware she was in a dangerous situation but her anger was over riding any panic she might have had. How dare they, how fucking dare they come into her home and hurt her family. How dare they target children. How dare they take her captive, again.  


Most of her captures left to go ahead, leaving two to argue over who would carry her.  


There came a hand to her backside. “Thought all dojutsu wielders were scrawny. This one’s got more meat than I expected.”  


“Think she’s knocked up? That'll double the bounty.”  


“Might be.” The back of her belt was gripped and pulled, sliding her whole limp body backwards. The razor blade cut upwoulds, into her eyebrow and blindfold.  


A hand came under her, feeling under her stomach cautiously. “Doesn’t feel like anything’s in there.”  


“Careful. If the captain thinks we fooled around with her he’ll cut our pay!” Obito was dropped back down again. The blade moved and cut into the side of her nose, very near her left eye.  


“Just pick her up and let’s go!”  


Obito hoped like hell her hair and collar would hide her blood and the small cuts in the blindfold, as she was lifted up again.  


It did.  


Soon she was over a shoulder, razor blade cutting into her face with every landing her capture took as he bounded through the landscape. She tried to subtly coordinate her bumps so the blade would slowly cut through her blindfold.

 

It took about an hour for the multiple cuts to bleed enough to be noticed.  


“Wait,” A voice behind them called, the back guard and sensor Obito had tricked before, “I smell blood.”  


Obito heard her approaching. When she reached out and lifted up Obito’s head, the blood soaked blindfold remained sticking to the back of the nin carrying her. Obito’s single untapped sharingan spun as she caught the sensor in the simplest genjutsu she knew. One she had been made to practise over and over again.  


**STOP** she commanded.  


The young sensor did so, short-sword still held out towards her. Obito lifted her bound hands from where they had been hanging limply and slashed her arm ropes with the offered sword. As soon as Obito had her hands free she took the sword from the loose grip and stabbed the nin holding her in the base of his spine.

“Risco! What’s happening?” called the one from ahead of them, seeing Risco collapse, trapping Obito under his dead body. The sensor remand standing, still caught in Obito’s genjutsu, while Obito pushed the corpse off her lap, cut her legs free, uncovered her other eye and mouth and finally stabbed the sensor in the abdomen, killing her instantly as well.  


Obito turned her attention to the last attacker, the rest having gone ahead to look into black market prices for a sharingan eye. She smirked as she formed the hand signs for a small but deadly hot fireball. What was that expression civilians had about not counting your chickens before you got them to the market?  


Obito couldn’t stand, but she did have a sword, fire jutsu and months of suppressed aggression to work off.

 

A short and brutal battle later, Obito surveyed the three corpses before her and belatedly wondered how she was going to get home before the other members of their team noticed the disappearance. Her adrenaline was wearing off and the fact that she was bleeding, crutch-less and unsure of where she was were issues. She also really wanted to take a corpse or two with her, for I&T to examine and for any bounty they might have had. She was almost sure they were Iwa nin, which meant her family could finally level accusations at them officially and demand some reparations.

With shaking hands Obito pulled out the needle she had pinned to her collar at the start of the excitement. She just hoped she could make a body storage seal work with such fresh bodies.

 

Some time after that, Obito had pick up her own chakra trail and went back the way they had taken her, using the longest sword she could find on the corpses for a crutch. She was travelling slowly and still suffering the after effects of the drugs and overexertion. Her whole body was shaking, from terror of what could have happened to her and what still might if she didn’t get to safety soon. One of her injuries was still bleeding under her makeshift bandages and she didn’t dare drink or eat much from the dead nin’s packs. Most of her shock and grief she bundled down in her head, under the more useful rage and self-satisfaction. She had killed 4 enemies today, who was the useless cripple now?  


It was just getting to dusk, and Obito was starting to panic about whether she really was still in Fire country, when a familiar howl brought tears of relief to her eyes. Uhei and Shiba, the fastest dog pair from Kakashi’s pack, burst from the undergrowth and circled her twice before stopping and approaching her cautiously.  


Uhei sniffed the air. “It smells like Obito!” he wagged his tail and made to come closer.  


“Wait.” Ordered Shiba, looking at her, “It could be a trap. What’s my name?”  


Obito sank to her knees, unable to keep standing. “Your name is Shiba and his name is Uhei. But I call you, “Good boy, good boy, who’s a good boy?” Her voice wavered as she cooed at the dogs she had known since they were puppies.  


“It’s me!” Uhei ran past Shiba and let her pet and fuss over him, rolling onto his back for a stomach scratch while Shiba sighed in dismay, “I’m a good boy!”  


“Fine,” Shiba grumbled, and came forward to give Obito an affectionate nudge to the face. “I’ll go get Boss, should be an hour away or so. You,” he gave Uhei a nip in the leg. “Get up and do your job, you’re on guard duty.”  


“Yes sir!” Uhei got to his feet, circled Obito and sat down next to her, ears pricked up as Shiba ran back the way he had come. “You’re bleeding, I’ll lick it!”  


“No!” Obito turned away from him. “Just let it clot naturally.” She leaned against Uhei and just let herself shake. She had expected someone from her family to find her first. But she was glad to have dog summons to cuddle rather than any of the bird summons most Uchiha favoured. Her mind went to Chiaki and her magpie summons, she had been so proud to win the favour of the fickle things. How would she cope without her mother now? Kofun was in no way capable of looking after his little sister and himself. She tried to shut out the image of Ema dying on her knees, spitting fire until the end. If Obito had had her leg, real or false, she could have saved Ema easily.  


Uhei’s ears pricked up and he growled. “Someone’s coming. From-” he turned his head in the direction Obito had come from, “-that way. Four shinobi, angry.” He helped Obito up into a pine tree, then came back down to the ground and dug a hole to hide in. Obito unsheathed the sword and readied herself to slash her eyes and throat.  _It’s alright,_  she told herself, _It’ll best for everyone if I just let it all end-_  


The double vision of seeing things from her own eyes and Kakashi's sharingan kicked in as she looked down at her blade. Kakashi was moving fast, the rest of his pack just keeping up with him. The last three of her kidnappers burst into view under Obito’s tree just as Kakashi emerged from the other side of the clearing. The double vision of seeing things from her vantage point and from Kakashi remained as he charged them.  


The look of terror on the enemy nin faces would stay with Obito much longer than any other memory of them. That and the bitter amazement of how effortlessly Kakashi took them down, using his dogs to herd them where he wanted. This was a replay of her shinobi career, Obito forever the warm-up act for Kakashi to overshadow.  


"The Copy Ninja," one nin gurgled before he died by his own earth jutsu. Of course Kakashi would have a moniker at 16, of course he would be known far and wide despite the alleged anonymous ANBU masks.  


Obito was startled from her thoughts by the last nin left alive, who appeared a branch away from her, a look of crazed suicidalness on his face. As he lunged for Obito she jumped for the ground. Kakashi must have been seeing things from her view point too, because he switched Obito’s moving body with his own (which was supposed to be impossible, using Kawarimi on another moving, living person.) and intersecting the thrown shiruiken with his sword. Obito reappeared in his old spot, dogs circling her protectively. The sound of chirping birds filled the air.  


"No!" Obito called, as Kakashi landed on the ground near her, the last nin face down in the dirt. "We need him alive." She stumbled forward after Kakashi as he stalked towards the last of her kidnappers, using the dogs as crutchs, "Don't kill him." Their double vision was still on as she approached Kakashi’s back, slowly and gently caught his wrist just above the sparking chakra of his chidori. “Just knock him out.” She breathed into his back, letting her head rest between his shoulder blades as the chidori fizzled out. Tension in her muscles started to loosen as Kakashi leaned back, taking more of her weight.  


“Wait but he’s the one-,” the fallen nin stuttered, looking up at them in confusion, "But he stole your eye, why are you helping him..." Another ANBU appeared behind him to knock him out.  


Obito let go of Kakashi's wrist and backed away as the rest of his ANBU squad arrived. Of course Kakashi had come with his team on an official mission, Kakashi would never really break the rules to save her-  


“I told you not to run on ahead!” chastised a Badger mask. “I warned you when you begged to be included, any defiance and I’ll write you up myself.”  


Wait what? Obito sank to her knees, energy gone. Kakashi turned to look at her, uniform still spotless, even his gloves clean of blood. Obito, by comparison had blood splattered on her from hair to still bleeding stomach and scraped legs.  


She looked up at him and tried to smile at him, but her lips were numb and shaking. Blackness was threatening to overtake her sight, now that all adrenaline and fear had left her. “I want-” but unconsciousness took her words before she even knew exactly what she was going to ask for.

 

 

Obito regained consciousness in a dark hospital ward with no windows or other patents. Her foggy mind’s panic at being back in the Iwa prison’s medical care was stalled only by the presence of Uhei at the foot of the bed and Buru, the largest dog of the pack, guarding the single door of the room.  


Obito got a hold of herself and calmed her breathing, recalling what had happened before she lost consciousness. There were symbols of Konoha scattered around the otherwise nondescript room, telling her little about which department or clinic she was in. The medic that entered was normal enough, if not for the Owl mask they wore with the usual uniform of a medic corps member.  


“That mask can’t be good for delicate surgery.” Obito remarked as Owl set down a tray of medical items on an empty bed next to her.  


“No, but protocol is protocol.” he agreed dryly. “I usually only deal with simple wounds and breaks. More complex surgery is handled elsewhere.”  


Owl carried out a routine check-up of Obito, confirming that all her recent injuries were mostly healed and no long term problems would occur.  


“Normally we would have sent you up to the civilian branch after checking you for traps and poisons, but your older injuries were a concern. And I owed it to your teammate to make sure you got the best possible care, not left waiting hours for 5 minutes of healing...”  


“Kakashi?” Obito asked.  


Owl stopped his examination of her face cuts. “No,” he said gently. “Not that teammate.” He cautiously pushed at the uneven scarring on her chin. “You both call for her in your sleep.”  


Obito eye’s filled with tears, even in death Rin was taking care of her. “I miss her so much.”  


“We all do.” Owl’s voice was as soft as his hands as he healed cuts old and new around her eyes. “Rin was the best of us. Konoha and the medic community lost much when she was murdered.”  


Obito jerked her head out of his gasp. “She scarified herself to save the village.” she corrected sharply. “She died a hero!”  


Owl’s voice and hands were still steady as he tilted his masked head slightly. “Is that what Hakate told you?”  


Obito glared at him. At her foot Uhei sat up with a questioning whimper, set off by her anger. “Kakashi didn’t have to tell me a damn thing about that mission.” She activated her eye, “I saw it.”  


Owl tried to cup her head again. “Don’t waste your chakra.” Obito jerked away, but obeyed his request, letting her eye return to it’s usual depth-less black, still glaring. Uhei let out a soft growl.  


Owl sighed and moved away, back to his tray. He fiddled with the contents of awhile, not looking at Obito. Eventually he stood to leave. “You really saw it. Everything?”  


Obito closed her eyes, more tears falling. “Rin was injured and couldn’t go on. They had important information that had to get back to Konoha fast. Kakashi wouldn’t leave her behind, because of me...” more tears. “So she had to-” Obito took a deep shuddering breath, “I would do almost anything to have been there to stop her, to save them both.”  


“But if Rin did choose… if it was a heroic suicide. Then why didn’t Hakate say anything to defend himself, justify himself?” demanded Owl.  


“Kakashi, justify himself? For a mission that killed his last teammate?” Obito looked at him. “Do you deal with geniuses much, Owl? The ones that speed through the ranks with the weight of the village on their shoulders? The ones upon whom all our hopes and expectations rest? Kakashi doesn’t defend himself because to his mind he did kill her; by not being better, by not being able to stop her.” Obito sighed, “He’s probably off somewhere convincing himself that my kidnap is his fault too.”  


Owl stood still for a long moment, then nodded slowly, “Yes, that makes sense. Damnit!” He cursed loudly, startling Buru from his watch on the door. “I’m such an asshole.”  


“Well. Then stop being one,” Obito told placidly, leaning back in her bed. “Now go find Kakashi so I can snap him out of it.”

 

 

But before that meeting could take place Obito had to deal with another fun interview with I&T. This time there was no pack of Uchiha as back up, just Obito and the four man squad that had rescued her. It had a noticeably more threatening atmosphere, a curtained balcony above them with who knows who listening in while Inochi and two other blank masked operatives interrogated Obito for information.  


“Your file says you have no genjutsu skill or seal knowledge. Yet you over powered three Iwa nin while blindfolded and tied up?”  


“I have a file?” Obito asked, looking at the large pile of paper work with interest, “Why is it so big? The one in the pension office is three pages, they’re forever losing it and refusing to pay me.”  


“Answer the question,” one blank mask ordered.  


“The morons covered the wrong eye.” Obito tapped the scared side of her face. “I waited until they were split up then used sharingan on them one after the other.”  


“And sealed them in an odd looking storage seal.” Inochi gestured to Obito’s hastily stitched seal, now empty of it’s bodies.  


“I wanted to collect any bounties attached to them.”  


“Civilians can’t get bounties on foreign agents.”  


“Civilians also can’t get interrogated by ANBU without legal representation and a guardian since I’m underage, but here I am.” Obito mentally offered up thanks to Ranma for her forcing Obito to read up on a civilians rights within Konoha, and promised herself to stop spitting in her tea when she called Obito an insult to good breeding.  


Inochi coughed, and Obito would have sworn he was covering a smile, if he hadn’t proved himself to be against Uchiha in previous interviews, “Let’s go over how you found Obito Uchiha so quickly Badger. You substituted a member of your squad just after being assigned the mission?”  


“Hare came down with flu abruptly. Dog was the first sensor type I could find.” Badger said placidly.  


“But Hare is fine now.”  


“Must have been that 24 hour bug.”  


“It’s been 20 hours.”  


“That Hare, always a speedy one.”  


Inochi looked at Badger dryly. Obito would bet her pain medication Badger had a wide eyed look of innocence behind his mask.  


“And you tracked down the foreign squad so fast by-” Inochi prompted.  


“By using dogs?” Badger tilted his head at the dog masked operative, standing at attention by Obito’s injured shoulder. “They already knew the target’s scent, we didn’t have to wait for clearance to get into the Uchiha compound and trace their trail from the start.”  


The balcony curtain twitched slightly. Obito glanced up at it suspiciously. She had assumed it was some higher up, who couldn’t directly interfere. Maybe it was Fuguki Uchiha?  


“And when you caught up to the enemy, they were still in Fire Country?”  


“Just within the border. All kills were made within our jurisdiction.”  


“Medic reports state the Uchiha had a seal on her person they don’t recognise.” One of the blank masked ANBU took over questioning. “Yet you decided to risk bringing her back into the village. It could have been a ploy allowing her to escape in the first place, and letting you receive her-”  


“Obito Uchiha is a person of concern to Lord Jiraiya,” Badger replied, “One of my team cleared the seal as his work.”  


The other anonymous ANBU paged through Obito’s file. “There’s no record of any affiliation between-”  


“Lord Jiraiya was the teacher of my genin team-leader,” Obito interrupted sharply, “We are connected in the lines of student and master, and in loss and grief.” She shot a look up at the curtain. “I could summon him here myself if you have any further questions about the seal,” She reached across her chest to touch her underarm seal.  


“No!” one of the blank masked ANBU ordered, reaching over to stop her. Kakashi shifted slightly at her side and the blank mask stopped and leaned back again.  


The room remained frozen, the two sets of ANBU staring each other down on either side of Inochi’s desk. Obito blinked, not expected her bluff of summoning Jiraiya to inspire this level of stress. She slowly moved her hand away from the seal and back down to her lap. She cleared her throat, catching Inochi’s eye and giving him a shrug.  


Inochi looked away as he loudly shuffled papers, “Then the seal that held the Iwa bodies, that was Jirarya’s work?” he asked. The rest of the room relaxed back into suppressed hostility.  


“No.” said Obito, not understanding how anyone could mistake her sloppy makeshift work for that of an expert seal-master, “My grandfather is a medical examiner and coroner. It’s one of the few fuinjutsu my family use.” Which was mostly true, apart from the fact that she had adapted and improved the inked single body seal into a more improved stitched format.  


“Yes,” Inochi frowned down at the seal in question. “I suppose that makes sense...” He looked into her file again. “That’s Kanaya Uchiha, the one everyone calls-”  


“Kamo,” smiled Obito, “He was always followed his older siblings like a duckling, so they started calling him ‘Little Duck’, and then when he grew older,” and his siblings died, one by one, “The name Kamo stuck.”  


“Yes, I remember Kamo,” Inochi smiled at her, possibility the first sincere smile he had ever given Obito. “We miss him in the morgue division, but understand why he felt he had to leave.”  


“Wait.” Obito put up a hand. “What?”  


“Well looking after you must be a full time job, since you’re unable to continue using a prosthetic leg,” Inochi tapped a page in her file. “It’s all in your file here, the inoperable bone damage, chakra disruptions, deliberating muscle problems-. It’s really a miracle you can sit up at all.”  


“Ca-can I see that?” Obito reached to pull away the file, heart pounding loudly in her ears.  


“This is an interrogation, not a social get together,” Interrupted one of the blank masks, putting a hand down firmly on the file. “Tell me exactly how you disabled the invaders Badger. Leave nothing out.”

 

Obito passed the rest of the interview in a fog of rage and grief. She didn’t speak or even move much until everyone but Kakashi and his team remained.  


“I said: that went surprisingly well,” Badger said to her, leaning into her space and starting Obito from her dark thoughts. “We’ll probably get a more subtle punishment later on, but no official reprimand is always good.”  


Obito blinked at his covered face. She didn’t really understand what he was saying. “I know you,” she said softly, as her eyes sent her brain messages it was slow to understand. Her hand came up to trace a hidden scar that started at his nose and spread out across his left cheek. Raido caught her hand before she could touch his mask and gently pushed it away.  


“I think you’ve had a long day and need to rest.” he said with kindness, “Dog, would you mind terribly getting Lady Obito home?” He very gently patted Obito on her head and made a gesture, he and the rest of the team flicked away.  


“Captain,” Kakashi saluted the already gone Badger and put out a hand to help Obito stand. She stared at his offered hand in confusion. Eventually she leaned into his hand with her cheek, nuzzling it.  


“O-Obito!” Kakashi pulled back his hand, scanned the empty room and bent down to scope her up. “Not now!”  


Obito blinked at his double masked face. She wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “They lied.” She said softly into Kakashi’s uncomfortable chest armour. “They lied to me. Everyone one of them.” She was aware of being carried somewhere, of darkness breaking into artificial light then back into natural darkness again. “They never ordered the leg at all. There was never any intention to let me out again.”  


“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation,” Kakashi adjusted his grip on her, getting ready to roof jump. “I’m- glad you’re safe.”  


“For now.” Reality was starting to set in. She squirmed to look Kakashi in the mask. “I’m not going back.”  


Kakashi stopped and turned his head to look back at her. “What?”  


“The second I get back behind those walls it’s going to be,” she flung her arms out, nearly knocking his ANBU mask. “House confinement, maybe even locked in my room. They’re gonna want to know about my seals, probably make me give up my books so everyone can copy them.” She got a grip on the bare skin of his shoulder. “And they’re gonna be back to the marriage argument all the time. If my file says-” she bit down the chock in her voice. “-I’m physically incapable then I never inherit. I never get the votes or my inheritance-”  


“We’ll get it changed,” Kakashi interrupted, lowering Obito to stand on her own foot. “They can’t modify your medical records without breaking some laws.”  


“You don’t understand,” Obito kept holding on to his shoulder, and leaned in close. “When you’re part of a clan, living together on clan land, where everything is everyone’s business, they can do things like this. They just need enough family to back it up. They can make it so you have no other choice.” She leaned forward even more, mouth touching his ANBU mark. “If the attack hadn’t happened and someone, anyone had come along and said they’d let me work outside the compound if I married them, or if I agreed to foster a few kids? I would have agreed like that,” she snapped her fingers. “I didn’t even notice how trapped I was until I got out. I relieved when I woke up and I was kidnapped. I was tied up and blind folded and about to be sold off as a bloodline broodmare, and I was so happy I had someone to openly hate and plot the murder of,” She let her teeth scrap against the raised skin of Kakashi’s shoulder, fighting the urge to bite. “I can’t go back, not tonight. I’m too angry, too scared. I’ll set something on fire and fuck things up even worse…”  


Kakashi put a hand to her hair and very gently tugged her mouth away, leaning down so Obito’s face rested in the hollow of his breast bone. “Where do you want to go.”  


“With you. I want to stay with you.” Obito mumbled into the black material of his ANBU uniform. And pretended not to notice when his throat contracted in a strong swallow.

 

 

 

Once Kakashi had locked and sealed the door of his flat – Obito’s previous work, preventing anything from coming out and letting in only outside noise and smell; Obito sat, staring blankly at nothing until Kakashi brought her a shirt to wear. He probably meant for her to put it on over the itchy borrowed clothing the medics had given her, but she stripped out of them instead, before putting on the oversized shirt. She shut down for a while after that, losing track of time, coming to when Kakashi put soup in front of her. She ate it without tasting much, then stood up from the table and hoped over to Kakashi’s laid out futon. Her birthday gift to him, the quilt made up of team 7’s old clothing was carefully folded over the foot of the mattress.  


It took all her strength and she had to crawl on her knees, but she managed to drag the futon to a more defensible corner against some cupboards. She set the pillow straight, climbed under the covers and tried to sleep.  


After a few minutes, she sat up and looked at Kakashi, who was just finishing the washing up. He looked at her with some trepidation, still clutching a dish towel. At some point he had changed into off duty clothing, though the high vest he wore could have just been his ANBU one without the amour and gloves. He wore his usual cloth mask but his wide-eyed concern was easy for Obito to read, especially with both eyes uncovered.  


Obito beckoned him over impatiently. When Kakashi cautiously came to her side she pulled him down into the bed next to her, pushing him to lie on his side, so she was wedged between the wall and his back. She reached down the bed, pulled the quilt up and over both of them and sighed as the scents of her old team gently wafted over her. She was 10 again and safe, Rin curled at her side, Kakashi with his back to them and Minato-sensei on guard duty. No one could hurt her.  


Then she slept.

 

 

She woke up four hours later in the dark, memories of the day plaguing her mind. She hadn’t slept deep enough for nightmares, but Ema’s body, Chiaki’s sobbing face, the feel of her body bound and manhandled, those memories had stayed with her as she dozed.  


She felt Kakashi’s eyes on her. They had moved while she slept, now she was on her side and Kakashi on his back, outside arm free to reach for a weapon. Her shirt had slipped down on one shoulder, exposing the top of her breasts. Kakashi’s hand came down slowly, and gently tugged the jumper back up again.  


Obito felt a gush of affection and moved closer, cuddling up against Kakashi. She nuzzled his bare arm, moving up to his shoulder, then across to his covered neck and face. Slowly she edged herself up, until she was halfway lying on top of him. She sat up a bit more, reached up, and with the same slow consideration he had shown her, lowered his mask.  


She smiled at the conflicted look of concern and happiness he wore and kissed him very gently, a soft press to his beauty mark then another lingering one to his lips. When she pulled away Kakashi moved his head to stay connected, making the kiss longer and more intense than she had planned. It’s warm and consuming but the angle put a crick in Obito’s neck so she pulled away reluctantly.  


“Thanks for coming to get me.” she said quietly and rested her cheek below his deactivated eye, feeling his seal gently tug on her chakra. She let it suck up what it needed, her own stores already back to normal levels. It was a nice sensation.  


Kakashi let out a soft sound and the leg she was resting on twitched, as if he trying to move away from her.  


“Are you okay?” she lifted her head, ending the chakra transferal and shifted so her legs fell on either side of his twitching one, letting her stomach rest on another part of his body that was twitching. “Oh.”  


Kakashi flushed and tried to get away and pull up his mask with half his body still pinned under her.  


“Hey,” Obito went back to nuzzling his neck, “I don’t mind, it’s okay.” Her nuzzles turned into slow suckling kisses. “If you want to we can-”  
“No.” Kakashi interrupted breathlessly, then cleared his throat and spoke again more clearly, “No, I don’t want to.”  


“Wait. What?” Obito pulled away to look at his embarrassed face, and glanced down to check his lower reactions were still there. “Really?”  


Kakashi succeeded in squirming out from under her, sliding out of the futon. “It’s- it’s the wrong time. It’s too soon-”  


“It’s been 6 months since we first kissed,” Obito reminded him, more confused that offended.  


“And we’ve only seen each other twice since then! And- and you just got kidnapped and interrogated and traumatised-”  


“I think traumatised is exaggerating a tiny bit-”  


“AND we have to work out how to get you out of house arrest and how to explain your seals to your clan and what we’re going to say about where you were tonight-”  


“Which is why I’d really like to switch my brain off for a bit,” Obito interrupted putting out a hand to stop Kakashi’s babbling. “I’m good at post-coital talking.”  


Kakashi leaned forward into her hand, and appeared to be about to climb back into the bed with her. Then he shook his head, expression hardening. “No. I’d be taking advantage.”  


Obito groaned and dropped her face into the pillow. Her hormones were now awake and very interested in the proceeding and the scent of Kakashi in the bed did not help. She turned to glare at him. “You’re not taking advantage. I’m giving you my consent. If you don’t want me just say it.”  


“I do…. But not now.” Kakashi had scuffled away about half the length of the room, mask pulled back on.  


“If this is about protection I’m happy to stick to handjobs.” she offered half-heartedly, kicking off the quilt and covers, exposing her hot skin to the stifled air of the flat. “Or oral.”  


Wide eyes took in the sight of her, stomach down on the mattress, shirt bunched above her hips and a pout aimed at him. “N-no.” Kakashi swallowed and looked away.  


“Fine.” Obito grumbled and turned her back to him, sucking at her fingers. “Go jerk off in the bathroom or something, I’m not moving...”  


She ignored the incoherent sounds of embarrassment and made sure the quilt was completely off the bed. Now was a time when she didn’t need any part of team 7 near her, since Kakashi was acting like a virgin genin-  


Wait.

She paused, one hand cupping a breast and the other about to go between her bare legs. No. No way. Kakashi was 16, he’d been a shinobi for 10 years. Someone must have approached him for a bit of fun before now… Except Minato-sensei had been civilian minded about this sort of thing and thought 13 was too young to find his student with their tongue down the throat of another genin. (Obito had wanted to make sure they had enough experience for Rin, it meant nothing Sensei, please stop crying!)  


And after Obito’s apparent death, and then Rin, and then Minato-sensei AND Kushina AND the Kyubi attack, Kakashi probably hadn’t wanted anyone near him, let alone intimately touching him… Their friends had all said how he barely spoke to anyone until Obito started dragging him to their get-togethers.  


Obito sighed loudly and dropped her hands, skin still tingling with want, in spite of the guilt. She turned her head slightly to look over at Kakashi. He was still sitting on the floor looking miserable, mouth moving under his mask, possibility repeating shinobi rules and willing his body to calm down. He looked very young, all of a sudden. She had forgotten, since he had overtaken Obito in height and muscle, that she was older than him by almost a year.  


She rolled on to her hands and knees and slowly crawled over to him. It was a testament to how worked up he was, that Kakashi didn’t notice Obito approach until she stopped and sat back, right in front of him. He flinched at the sight of her, but didn’t stop her from gently putting her hands to his knees.  


“I’m sorry.” Obito leaned down, trying to catch his eyes. “I was unkind and not really thinking. I got caught up in what I wanted and didn’t consider your feelings.”  


Kakashi didn’t meet her gaze. “No it’s my fault, I should have controlled myself better-”  


“Kakashi,” Obito put a hand to his chin and gently tilted his face up, meeting his eyes. “Not everything is your fault. I wanted to go too fast and you had every right for wanting to stop. Will you please accept my apology?”  


Kakashi nodded. Then pulled her hand away from his face angrily. “This-” he gestured between the two of them and the bare room. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Any of it. It’s all wrong. You don’t know how how wrong it is and if you did you wouldn’t be here at all.”  


Obito’s heart broke a little at this declaration. A part of her wanted to continue the discussion, really make some headway into Kakashi’s emotional issues. But most of her really wanted to get back to fooling around.  


“’kashi, none of our lives are how we thought they would be.” she rubbed his knee with her hand, leaning forward. “But we can make the best of what we do have. I’m here and I’m safe and I really do care about you.” She leaned further forward and brushed their noses together. “I won’t do anything you don’t want okay? Let’s just see how this goes. I’ll stop whenever you want and I know you’ll do the same for me.”

 

 

Dawn was just starting to wipe away the stars when Obito woke up. Kakashi’s head was a heavier weight than Aimi had ever had been on her chest, but he drooled less. They were right on the edge of the futon, away from the wet patches they had left on the mattress. The quilt was safely folded away on the table, far from anything that could have tainted it’s innocent smells. Kakashi had insisted and refused to trust in Obito’s barrier seals to keep it clean.  


Her body was more relaxed than it had been in months, and when she ran her hand up Kakashi’s bare back she could feel the same looseness in his muscles, unlike how bunched and tense they had always felt been before. She gently carded her fingers through his white hair, still wet at the scalp from the shower he had taken a few hours before.  


A series of knocks on the door ruined the moment, making Kakashi drag himself up and out of the futon in response to the knock code. He pulled up his mask as he opened the door sleepily, in just his sleeping bottoms, giving Obito just enough time to pull her shirt back down over her knees.  


Sakuya, Obito’s cousin and the closest thing to an older sister she had, forced herself into the room, police uniform a skew under a loose trench coat, eye-bags as bad as any of their older relatives. The sight of Obito sitting in the bed, frozen in horror made her sharingan activate. Sakuya turned and punched at Kakashi with all her strength.  


Kakashi caught her fist with one hand, using the other to re-lock the door. He held onto Sakuya’s fist with no discernible effort and tilted his head. “How do you know ANBU code?”  


Sakuya sneered at him, “You lot were all over the place teaching yourselves the new codes, it was easy for someone with a _mastered_ sharingan to pick up a few things.”  


Obito stood, using the cupboards by the bed to haul herself up. Sakuya withdrew her fist and turned back to face her. “You are in so much trouble.”  


“How did you find me?” Obito asked, pulling her shirt up one shoulder, then tugging it down over her legs.  


“I’m a police sergeant and I grew up with you. I asked myself ‘where’s the stupidest place Obito could be' and BAM," she smacked her hands together, “Here you are! What the hell were you thinking?”  


Obito opened her mouth to calmly explain herself, but somehow a rush of angry accusations came out instead. Sakuya responded just as angrily and soon they were yelling at each other incoherently, suppressed anger spilling out.  


Kakashi found himself a shirt, and looked for something to drink, fairly confident they weren’t going to hurt each other.  


Another knock came at the door, this one a simple and soft. Sakuya flung herself at Obito, covering them both with a genjustsu.  


“Sakuya,” came Sumiya’s soft voice. “Please don’t be murdering Hakate. I love you but I won’t help you hide hide his body – your family will be top suspects no matter what we do-”  


Kakashi opened the door and Sumiya quietly slipped in. “Thank-you Hakate sir. So sorry to disturb you so early in the morning.  


“It’s fine.” Kakashi said uncertainly as Sakuya cancelled the jutsu and she and Obito resumed yelling at each other. “Tea?”  


“What blends do you have?” Sumiya inquired as Obito brought up Sumiya’s name accusingly. “Oh yes, that one is lovely in the mornings.”  


Kakashi nodded and made tea, while Sakuya pointed dramatically at a bite mark on Obito’s neck. Obito responded by pulling at Sakuya’s wrist, exposing a bracelet that matched one Sumiya wore openly.  


“Lovely,” said Sumiya approvingly, looking at Obito’s bare legs while Sakuya took off her tench coat and tried to get Obito into it. “Oh, I meant the tea,” she said with a blush when she noticed Kakashi looking at her. “Really, Obito’s a patient, I never objectify patients!”  


“-oh no Sakuya, I have no secrets, I’m not seeing anyone unsuitable or hiding any new talents or are putting fuinjutsu on everything I sew! You’re such a liar Obito!”  


“I’m a liar?” Obito’s voice came out soft and harsh, contrasting the overly dramatic way they had been yelling before. “I’M the one who keeps secrets that could hurt or ruin people’s lives?”  


“Obito?” Sakuya said uncertainly, letting her coat drop to the floor.  


Sumiya and Kakashi watched worriedly. The mood had turned serious suddenly.  


“You lied to me. Every single one of you had an agenda you wanted to use me for!” Obito’s hands fisted at her side. “Ever since I came back from Iwa, I’ve been pulled this way and that. You locked me up and herded me at every turn. Made me feel worthless and ungrateful, a waste of space!”  


“No.” Sakuya tried to interrupt.  


“YES! Tightening the rope around me until I did whatever you told me to do! If I hadn’t won my right to leave the compound, gotten my job and seen other people; I would have accepted Kaoru’s proposal at Niomi’s wedding! If I didn’t have my seal work and Kakashi I’d have accepted Inabi! If I hadn't been kidnapped and forced to fight for my life I’d have accepted anyone if it meant I could get out of the fucking compound!” Obito screamed into Sakuya’s face. “All this just to get me married and pregnant before Kamo dies and leaves me his money!”  


“Now Obito, you’re exaggerating.”  


“You all got me a sewing machine for my birthday Sakuya! A sewing machine! I’m surprised it wasn’t a wedding kimono and baby clothing.”  


“Okay. Okay. You’re unhappy, I get that. We’ll go home and we’ll talk to everyone and they’ll listen to us-”  


“Like they listened to my about Itachi? Like they’d listen to you about Sumiya? Face it Sakuya, we’re the side of the family good for breeding and child raising, nothing else.”  


“That is not true.” Sakuya said, but she swallowed hard. “Obito you have to come home. Everyone is freaking out over where you are.”  


“I know I have to go back, but not yet. Not because you’re telling me to. When I’m ready.”  


“I love you. You have to know that. You’re like another daughter to my mom, we’ll work something out.” Sakuya put out her hand. Obito didn’t take it.  


“Fine.” Sakuya turned for the door. “Keep the coat, don’t come home smelling of dog. The funerals are this afternoon if you can be bothered to attend. Come on Sumiya!” Sakuya gave Kakashi another glare and looked at Samiya as she opened the door.  


“Just finishing my tea dear!” said Sumiya placidly. Sakuya gave her a look and slammed the door behind her.  


Obito sank down to her knees, drained from her shouting.  


“They would have started a war to get you back, you know.” Sumiya said quietly, looking into her cup. “At least, they were talking about it. And I’ve found there’s very little space between your family talking about something and then doing it.”  


“Possession isn’t the same thing as love, Sumiya.” Obito said softly. “I know that much.”

 

Of course Obito went home. Where else could she go? Staying with Kakashi was not an option, even if he had pretended it was, he had a life to get back to without all her family's drama.  


She sneaked back into the compound just as the funeral pier was lit and ignored the hostile looks of her family as Ema and the other victims of the attack burnt to ash.  


Afterwards she endured cross-questioning from everyone, over where she had been, how she had learnt fuinjutsu, how dare she not share every detail of her capture and rescue. Her responses of confusion or outright refusal to answer only aggravated them further.  


Eventually some of the cooler heads in the clan stepped into the fray and managed to negotiate that Obito be granted the freedom to leave the Compound with certain guidelines attached, in exchange for her sharing some of her seals. She had proven that she could take care of herself in a crisis. Kamo convinced her to accept the deal.  


Her new prosthetic leg was waiting for her on their front doorstep, with no note or explanation attached. Obito tried not to be bitter about it.

 

For a brief time life seemed to reset itself and Obito could almost convince herself that the past 5 months of virtual imprisonment by her family hadn’t happened. That she hadn’t been brought to so near to despair that she had almost lost herself to her family’s manipulations. Her family who seemed unrepentant about any of their actions.  


Itachi became a genin. He seemed unmoved by the change, though Sasuke resented how his brother’s routine made it harder for them to spend time together. Chiaki moved in with an aunt and Kofun moved in with a bunch of single cousins and Izu got their old house and finally had enough bedrooms for all her kids.  


“So it all worked out well,” a smiling old uncle said to Obito and didn’t understand why she had to be restrained from hitting him.  


Obito did not take up her old job in the police station, but spent her free time wondering around Konoha, away from her family. She meet up with old friends and made new ones. She climbed every tall structure she could manage. And she started being seen in public more obviously with Kakashi. They didn’t make much of their relationship together but her family knew they were speaking now. That was a major argument brewing, which Obito was slowly preparing herself for. Things couldn’t go on as they had before. She knew that now. The secrets her family were trying to hide had been revealed to her. She had to be ready for them.  


“Izumi! Come on!” Obito yelled as she waited for Izumi to drag herself away from some comic books in the very back of the bookstall. They were in the east side Konoha, where most of the immigrant and foreign population lived. Obito had come to hunt for new Whirlpool texts, which sometimes slipped past Konoha’s gate searches and ended up being sold second and third handed at corner markets. Izumi had come with to look for the latest comic of some series no one else in the clan read, from the far off land of her father’s birth. The search had been long and fruitless and Obito wanted to get Izumi back before dark. The clan was still on high alert after the invasion.  


“Sorry Auntie!” Izumi replied, turning up with a pile of worn out comics, “I couldn’t decide.”  


“It’s fine.” Obito was pretty sure half the pages were too tattered to read, but they had been cheap. She led the way through the narrow streets, traditional housing mixed with ultra modern apartment buildings. The horde of children ran towards them in two lines, all paired together. Obito and Izumi stopped to let the line pass in front of them, up some stairs to a stark looking building, with the fading name ‘Konoha Orphanage no 6’ on it’s door.  


“I suppose we should remember how worse off other people have it.” Obito said softly as the line of children ended with a stern looking woman and one last child. “At least we know where we belong in the world.”  


Izumi nodded and said something, but it was drowned out by the angry shouts of the last child being dragged up the stairs.  


“-do ANYTHING.” The small child howled, “He was ignoring me!”  


“I know! You’re not in trouble, just be quiet!” The woman replied, trying to pull him into the orphanage door.  


“Want a sweetie TOO.” The child was just out of toddler-hood, about Sasuke’s age. His blond hair caught on the light coming from inside the doorway, making it look like he had a golden crown above his dirty face.  


Obito was aware her eyes, both of them, had activated and were zoomed in and completely focused on the boy’s face. But she didn't really care. The rest of the world seemed to fade into darkness. She could hear Izumi, very far away from her, but all that really mattered was the boy’s angry blue eyes, his dirt covered nose, his whiskered cheeks. Her eyes were telling her something her mind and heart wanted to reject very badly.  
_First rule of the sharingan, love. Your eyes never lie, even when you desperately wish they would._ Kamo had told her that the week she returned home from Iwa.  


“NARUTO! I don’t care, just get inside.” the orphanage worker finally snapped.  


“FINE!” The boy with Kushina’s face and Minato sensei’s hair stomped in and the orphanage front door slammed shut.  


“Auntie. Auntie Obito. You’re crying.” Izumi said frantically as Obito sank to her knees. “It’s okay, the bad boy can’t hurt us.”  


“The- the bad boy?” Obito asked quietly as she wiped her eyes and deactivated them.  


Izumi patted her cheek comfortingly. “He can’t hurt us. The Hokage won’t let him. Let’s go home now, okay?”  


Obito let Izumi guide her towards the compound in a daze, only stopping once on the way, to stare up at the Hokage Monument and Minato-sensei’s stone face. She didn’t really understand what she had seen, but she knew it was important. Maybe the most important thing she had seen since Rin reached down and tore out her sharingan, four long years ago in a dark cave. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not happy about the ending, but I had to squeeze it in somehow, I promised too many people it would happen.
> 
> Next story will be out soon, but first I want to post a one-shot of Porn with little plot. Send help.
> 
> Please tell me what you think, I worked really hard on this!


End file.
